


One More Chance

by ddrhckrzz



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Arthur Arc (Future!Jaune), Bianca Schnee (Future!Weiss), F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-04-05 14:19:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 41,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14046126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ddrhckrzz/pseuds/ddrhckrzz
Summary: Jaune and Weiss were the two survivors left in Remnant. In a desperate attempt to save themselves from the endless hoard of Grimm, they prayed for one more chance. They just didn't expect to be granted that chance - much less to be transported to a similar world with familiar faces.





	1. Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my first time foraying into AO3, but uh, I hope you guys would enjoy my story. I would say this is a rewrite of my other fic, but currently, that other fic isn't on here, so yeah. Just know that I might do daily updates on this.
> 
> Might.

They were coming for them.

Jaune and Weiss felt it. The emptiness around them said enough about their situation already, and Jaune couldn’t help but let out a curse as he surveyed the area around them.

It was full of Grimm.

And they were coming in fast.

“Weiss! We don’t have much time left!” Jaune shouted over the overwhelming sounds of everything around them collapsing. Jaune looked up and saw a dozen large dragons rushing towards them. “Weiss!” He shouted more desperately as he drew his weapon, Crocea Mors Alter

“I’m trying!” Weiss shouted back at him as she operated with the machine around her. It was a miracle they even got this far to reach this last data center. But now they were found out, and they only had nothing but a few seconds left as they made their last stand. “Fuck!” Weiss cursed as an error appeared on the screen. She grit her teeth and looked around, before taking out a Dust canister which held the Maidens’ Essence within them.

“Whatever you’re doing Weiss, you need to do it quick!” Jaune cursed for a moment before he started to glow white, “Because I can only hold them off for about three seconds at most!”

“That’s enough time!” That was a lie, both of them knew that, but they couldn’t give up yet. They can’t. Not after how far they’ve come.

Jaune screamed as his bright white Aura pulsed out of him, eradicating some of the weaker Grimm in front of him, and barely causing any damage to the others. He grit his teeth, he was fine with that, he just needed to buy some time after all.

Weiss looked back to the machine, gritting her teeth, she poured what Aura she had left into the Dust canister, kickstarting it.

Jaune wouldn’t survive, Weiss knew that, and neither was she.

So she prayed.

* * *

_The noise was always there._  

_Haunting him._

_Consuming him._

_“Pyrrha!”_

_The memory was always there._

_Haunting him._

_Consuming him._

_“Weiss!”_

_At this point, he didn’t even know,_

_What was he fighting for?_

_“Pyrrha!”_

_Who was he fighting for?_

_“Weiss!”_

_It made him wonder,_

_Why was he fighting still?_

_“Jaune!”_

_Them._

_“Jaune!”_

_Her._

_“JAUNE!”_

* * *

Jaune’s hands immediately went to his weapon by the side of his hips as he woke up, but he calmed as he saw Weiss in front of him, looking concerned. 

He took a deep, shaky breath, closing his eyes for a moment, before he opened them again and smiled at her.

“Hi.” Jaune said to Weiss, making her smile, then she hugged him for a moment. “It worked?” 

Weiss frowned, “I’m not sure.” She muttered as she looked around the empty research facility. “I don’t think I’ve seen this place—” 

Footsteps.

Jaune and Weiss shut their mouths and looked at each other. They both unsheathed their weapons and settled in a stance, creating a minimal amount of sound as they did.

They would have considered hiding, but with the footsteps which they were hearing, those of which they could garner were human, they immediately thought of a certain group of people out to kill them.

The Deathseers.

And with them, there was no hiding. It was either run away, or confront them.

Jaune looked around and assessed their area. He could clearly see one gate and that entrance was the only exit to this room, which was a good thing—and a bad thing for them. Jaune frowned, he could get a good advantage out of this still though.

Jaune looked to Weiss, who had just finished looking around as well, he nudged his head towards one corner of the room and Weiss nodded.

The footsteps were getting closer.

They got in position, both of them flanking the gate, the only entrance and exit to the room they were in. For some reason, this was the only time Jaune actually noticed the oddly shaped artifact in the middle which was encased in a black tinted glass box.

Jaune narrowed his eyes, frowning, he thought he had seen that artifact before, but then he couldn’t think much on it as he heard the footsteps suddenly stop near the gate.

Jaune’s eyes met Weiss’ and she nodded.

They held their breaths.

The footsteps got closer to the room and once Jaune felt the air shift beside him, he immediately turned and pounced on the person causing the footsteps.

Weiss didn’t waste much time either, and as Jaune pulled the person in, she immediately got beside him and knocked the person out.

Jaune’s eyes widened however, as he saw the others that were outside the room.

Weiss noticed that Jaune froze and was about to look at what caused him to react so strongly, but then she saw the person she just knocked out.

He was wearing an Atlas Military outfit.

Specifically, one she knew that the Atlas Military used many years ago.

“Shit.” Both Jaune and Weiss muttered at the same time, standing straight and putting their hands up, dropping their weapons to the ground as well.

 _‘Well,’_ Weiss thought, _‘At least we now know that it worked.’_ She grimaced as she looked at how old these Atlas Military outfits looked, _’Didn’t think we’d go back this far though…’_

* * *

 

Jaune hummed as he toyed around with a small ball of metal, rolling it around his palms and throwing it up into the air before catching it with his hand. 

A small smile appeared on his face before he rolled the ball around the gaps between his fingers, guiding it with his Aura.

“Heh, polarity, huh? Let’s see about that…” Jaune muttered to himself, before swiftly hiding the ball of metal inside his pocket and looking up as the door to his cell opened.

Jaune found it odd, how dark it was inside the cell, but it didn’t really matter much to someone like him, already being used to the darkness. His eyes easily adjusted to the light that suddenly flooded his room and he saw a man suited in a thick armor that was meant to cover all parts of his body and protect it from any attacks caused by most Huntsmen.

“Get up. The General wants to talk to you.” The man inside the suit said, and Jaune got up, following the man outside. As they were walking outside, Jaune saw Weiss also get guided out by another man wearing a similar suit, their eyes met across the hallway for a moment, before they continued to follow the men wearing the thick suits of armor.

Jaune glanced at the armored man for a moment, “You know that suit of armor isn’t really going to help you out all that much.” Jaune said with a shrug.

The man in the armor snorted, “Oh yeah? You huntsmen are always the arrogant types. You’re cuffed with Aura-inhibiting metal, you wouldn’t even be able to hurt me if you tried.”

Jaune smirked, “You wanna test that?”

The armored man hesitated for a moment, glancing at him, before bursting out in laughter. “Hah, you’re really funny kid. You think people haven’t tried doing that before? But since you look real eager to tire yourself out, why don’t you go ahead?”

Jaune shrugged, “Well, you did ask for it.” Jaune looked to the other side and saw Weiss smirk at him. That was the signal. “You fail to realize, Sergeant Mitch, that these cuffs never worked on me in the first place.” Jaune explained as he quickly guided his Aura from his fingertip towards the lock hole of his handcuffs. After a few seconds, the cuffs fell to the ground creating a large thud.

“Freeze!” Mitch said in a panic, stepping back and pulling out his gun, “You’re—”

“Oh but Sergeant Mitch, I didn’t do anything. I only did as you ordered.” Jaune smiled, spreading his arms out, “Is this not what you wanted?”

“I-I take it back! D-don’t come any closer!” Mitch shouted, stepping back slightly.

All around them the other prisoners started to shout, screaming at them to be taken out of their cells.

Jaune raised a brow, and stepped forward, smiling softly as Mitch fired out a shot off his gun. Jaune was faster than the bullet though.

He was suddenly behind Mitch and he moved close to his helmet, whispering, “Too late.”

The sergeant’s screams didn’t last long.

Jaune scoffed at the man on the ground, rolling his eyes. “And you said I was being arrogant…” He muttered, looking around at the other soldiers that were rushing towards them. Jaune just calmly walked to the middle of the hallway, smiling at Weiss. “Come on, let’s go meet the General.”

“He’s not going to be happy about this…” Weiss muttered, watching as they were started to get surrounded.

“Weiss. Was he ever happy about anything other than Penny?” Jaune said, looking at the soldiers surrounding them.

“Step down and we won’t shoot!” One of them said, Jaune guessed that it was one of the leaders, so he stared at the man straight in the eye. “We’ll give you five seconds!”

“You sure you want to shoot that?” Jaune asked with a frown. “Oh sure, I get that it’s plastic overcharged with a ton of dust, but are you really sure that’s going to do anything to us?"

Weiss sighed, “We just want to speak with the General on our own. Step away, and nobody has to get hurt.”

For a moment, the soldiers hesitated. But just before the soldiers could start shooting amidst the noise around them, another voice came in.

“Step down, soldiers.” A voice called out, silencing everything. General Ironwood stepped out into the containment chamber and everyone turned to look at him. He narrowed his eyes at Jaune and Weiss before, “Come, Mr. Arc, Ms. Schnee, we’ll talk in my office.”

The soldiers immediately moved to give Jaune and Weiss a path and both of them walked towards Ironwood. For a few seconds, the entire area was silent, until a shot suddenly fired out.

Before it could hit Jaune though, something intercepted the tranquilizer and made it fall towards the ground. Jaune just looked back and eyed the man who took a shot.

“Private Anders, I believe the General has told you to step down, did he not?” Jaune said with narrowed eyes and Anders stepped back slightly, before he hung his head, “Do not disrespect the General.”

Jaune and Weiss continued walking towards Ironwood, and followed him as he turned around and started walking to the office.

“Don’t worry General, Sergeant Mitch and Sergeant Collins aren’t dead.” Jaune said to Ironwood,

“I knew that, Mr. Arc.” Ironwood said, “But why did you two feel the need to do that?”

“Because there are many things coming in the future.” Jaune muttered, “And I want to make sure that the Tartarus isn’t the first one to fall.”


	2. Establishment

**One More Chance**

**Chapter 2 - Establishment**

* * *

"Lionheart…" Ironwood growled, curling his fists. "I knew he was too cowardly for this." He started to dial a number on the scroll, but Jaune grabbed his arm. "What are you doing?"

"Preventing you from creating a stupid decision." Jaune glared at Ironwood. "Much as I don't like the prospect of continuing to be allies with someone such as Lionheart, we can't just make rash decisions here."

"It'd be best if we convene with Ozpin first before proceeding with anything." Weiss crossed her arms as Jaune let go of Ironwood and sat back down. "We wouldn't want to necessarily take away the advantage of knowledge after all."

"That advantage wouldn't last long if we just stand around and do nothing!" Ironwood slammed his palms on the table, and Jaune sighed.

"That's true, but we can't just act aggressively all will-nilly either just because we think we can take them." Jaune retorted, "You've seen how Weiss and I got through your defenses in the Tartarus right? That's not even the worst thing that can happen, I mean, have you looked at the security of the CCT?"

"The CCT was made so that if one falls, then all the others fall as well, we can't exactly change that—"

"That's bullshit, Ironwood, and you know it." Ironwood narrowed his eyes at Jaune, "Atlas didn't just make the CCT for free without gaining something out of it such as information from all the other kingdoms, and much as Ozpin would hate to learn about that,  _that is exactly the case here_." Ironwood went silent at that, if he needed more proof that these people weren't from this time, then that was it. Ironwood knew that  _nobody_  in this time knows about that yet, because it was far from being finished.

"General." Weiss spoke up, making Ironwood look at her, "I believe it would be best if we were to speak with Professor Ozpin now. It'd be best if he knows of the situation now rather than later."

Ironwood went silent at that, and Jaune got back on his seat, crossing his legs as he leaned his arm and head on top of it.

Suddenly, Jaune and Weiss turned their heads simultaneously towards the door to Ironwood's office.

"Winter." They both muttered at the same time, looking back to Ironwood, who let out a small breath and stood up.

"Come in, Specialist Winter." Ironwood said, and the door opened, revealing Winter Schnee who immediately saluted Ironwood, before narrowing her eyes at the two other occupants in the room. "You have come back from your expedition?"

"Yes sir." Winter walked towards the table and placed her scroll down on the desk. "The warehouse was empty, it seems the distress signal was was intercepted and came to us late."

"Ah… Warehouse 12-C." Weiss muttered, "It didn't last very long against the White Fang."

Winter narrowed her eyes at Weiss, "Who are you?"

Weiss looked at Winter and raised her brow, before looking towards Ironwood who frowned.

Winter looked towards Ironwood as well. "Are these the new recruits, sir?"

Jaune looked at Ironwood and narrowed his eyes,

Ironwood shook his head. "No, these are your new instructors." Everyone else's eyes widened at that, "Winter, meet Gilbert Arc and Bianca Schnee."

"Hold on," Jaune interrupted. "General, we didn't agree to this."

"No you didn't." Ironwood agreed, "But if you wished to go to Vale and pardon yourselves from imprisonment then you must serve the Atlas military for two months at most."

Jaune and Weiss narrowed their eyes, they knew that Ironwood was talking bullshit, but it wasn't like Winter knew that, so he was using that to his advantage. Jaune and Weiss looked at one another again before they nodded at Ironwood.

"Okay then, I have one last question."

"What is it?"

"When does the new semester for the Huntsmen Academies start?"

Ironwood raised a brow at that. "Four months."

Jaune grinned, "Good, then we'll be there just in time. So, General, where's the contract?"

"Here." Ironwood pulled out a contract from under the desk and gave them to both Jaune and Weiss, it also recognized their new names, Gilbert and Bianca, there.

_'Clever. Guess you never really were half-bad for a general.'_  Jaune thought as he signed the contract, thinking of Ironwood.  _'A pity that your cunning didn't stop the Fall of Atlas.'_

They both gave the contract back to Ironwood and looked at Winter, offering their hand to her.

"A pleasure to meet you Winter." Weiss said to Winter, a smile on her face.

Winter nodded, as she shook her hand, "Likewise." Both Jaune and Weiss saw the amount of questions buried within Winter's mind as they looked at her. They couldn't help but smirk at that.

_'This is going to be fun.'_  Weiss thought to herself, chuckling slightly and watching as Winter shook her hand with Jaune as well.  _'Gilbert Arc and Bianca Schnee huh… Odd, but I suppose it works. Shame for Jaune though, it doesn't roll off the tongue.'_  A frown appeared on her face then.  _'Not like my name is any better.'_

* * *

"You know she's bound to ask at one point or another." Weiss said as she put on her clothes behind Jaune, looking at herself in the mirror.

"Yeah, but that's not going to go to us." Jaune said, putting on his own clothes. "That's for Ironwood to handle. He gave us our names after all."

"So you're saying he's our dad now?" Weiss turned around, putting a hand to her hip as she had finished wearing the standard Atlesian Specialist uniform.

"Well, sure, I'd like to get adopted by Ozpin though. Seems he'd be a much better father than Ironwood." Jaune put on the gloves and tied the red sash around his belt a bit tighter and grinned. "There we go."

"You want to have a father who'd eventually turn into a sixteen year old kid?" Weiss raised a brow, and Jaune rolled his eyes. "Not exactly best father material right there."

"Still better than your actual father, Bianca." Jaune looked at her and she pouted at him.

"Okay, you have a point there." Weiss—Bianca huffed. "So Gilbert Arc, huh? Not exactly something that rolls off the tongue."

"Better than being named off a woman's name, like Joan." Jaune—Gilbert snorted, and stretched for a moment. "Okay, Winter should arrive… now."

In that moment, three successive knocks rang out through their door, then they both opened it and walked out, nodding at Winter.

"These are your scrolls." Winter said as she gave Gilbert and Bianca their scrolls, having a minimalistic white and gray design. "The General has asked me to guide you to where you will train the soldiers." Winter frowned as the two of them nodded at her, "I have a question to ask the two of you however,"

"Yes?" Gilbert blinked, "If you were going to ask about how we got arrested, then it's a long story."

Winter rolled her eyes and shook her head, starting to walk towards the training facilities, "No, I do not wish to know about that. What I wish to know about, however, is where the two of you came from."

"Ah." Gilbert muttered, "Yeah, well, it wasn't like being raised in some offshore tribe was easy." He then glanced at Bianca, "Bianca's story is even more complicated though, how a Schnee like her ended up on our tribe was a series of unfortunate events."

"Very unfortunate events." Bianca sighed. "Let's just say that I nearly died before I could even live. At least, that's what they tell me."

"And I had a sword and shield along with me as I got stranded on that tribe." Gilbert pointed to Crocea Mors Alter, or, as Polendina had put it, Noxia Mors. "Was an Arc before I even knew what it meant."

Winter hummed as she listened to their explanations. It matched what Ironwood had told her, she supposed. Then again, they're being just as vague as him. She wouldn't push, however, especially not with what she heard of Bianca's story.

"It must have been a rather unfortunate thing that you two ended up being arrested." Winter said, and Gilbert scoffed.

"Unfortunate? More like a Godsend. We were looking to get out of that tribe for years. Getting arrested and acquiring new names definitely helped with that. We're honestly glad that Ironwood was more understanding than we'd thought. I was half-expecting myself to have to work in the Military for two years." Gilbert muttered, and he didn't even have to lie about that, he was honestly worried that Ironwood would have forced the two of them to work for him for two years before they could end up going to Vale.

"Why Vale, however? Would you not like to stay in Atlas?" Winter asked, glancing at Gilbert, who frowned and got a far look for a moment.

"Well… let's just say that I wanted to find my family after a long time. At least, what's left of it." Gilbert said with a shrug. "Though I'm not sure if Bianca would even want to meet the few Schnee's that do matter right now."

"We'll have to meet them, one way or another." Bianca said, "There are… many things I'd like to have explained after all. And perhaps meet some other person I could consider a sibling for once." She then looked at Winter, "Besides, Winter's right here."

"You got a point there." Gilbert grunted, "We also wanted to talk with Professor Ozpin about a few things."

"Oh? Anything that you didn't want to tell the general?" Winter asked, curious.

Gilbert scoffed, "No. We've told him everything that we knew. Wouldn't have gained his trust otherwise."

"We're aiming to help everywhere we can with our abilities. We think Professor Ozpin is the key to that, not to insult the General of course." Bianca said, and Winter nodded,

"Of course, I understand. However, if you wished to be hired under Ozpin, wouldn't the qualifications to become a Hunter under him be too much for the two of you? Especially with your track record so far." Winter asked, and Gilbert shrugged,

"We're not applying as Hunters or anything under Ozpin really, we're just applying to be Professors there." Gilbert said, making Winter blink.

"Professors?" Winter muttered to herself, "Well, I suppose this will be a good training for the two of you then."

"Oh it will be." Gilbert grinned as they arrived at the training facility, the first round of soldiers already there. "I hope that you will all learn as much as you could from us then, because this will be a rough two months."

In that moment, Bianca stepped forward behind Winter and unsheathed her weapon, Myrtenaster Alter, or as Polendina had put it, Alpenlocken, and immediately put Winter in a lock, her blade over Winter's neck, who had her eyes widened.

"Always remember, be ready for anything. Especially as a Specialist. Winter." Bianca whispered to Winter, who hardened her gaze and got out of Bianca's grip, unsheathing her weapons as well.

"Well then. This will be our first match. Winter Schnee and Bianca Schnee." Gilbert grinned as he stepped out of their range, activating the arena that was under the two Schnee's. "Standard Atlas Rules. First one to surrender, or faint, loses. Begin!"


	3. Adaptation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yeah, I changed the name of Future!Jaune to Arthur to make it fit him better. Sorry about that!

Winter narrowed her eyes at Bianca and rushed forward with her blades, intending to get a quick stab in. But Bianca was faster, and was able to easily dodge Winter's attack, Bianca smiled slightly at her and took a ready stance again, Alpenlocken pointed down to the ground.

"Quicker." Bianca said, smile still on her face, and Winter frowned, dashing towards her again, this time faster. "Close, but you'll have to be faster than that." As Winter neared her, she flicked her blade upwards, deflecting Winter's blade and flicking it away.

Winter's eyes widened and she looked towards where her other blade went, seeing it get embedded onto the ground. That was her mistake, however, as she felt the hilt of Bianca's sword impact upon her back, sending her down to the ground.

"Don't look away from your enemy." Bianca instructed, pointing her blade down to Winter's neck as she stepped on her back. "That could mean your life or death. Understood?"

Winter tried to get up, but for all that Bianca looked small, she was a lot stronger than she looked. And it showed with how for all that Bianca was just slightly taller than Winter, she had more than enough strength to keep even herself struggling under Bianca's foot.

"Understood?" Bianca asked again, a frown on her face. Winter grunted, nodding slightly as she continued to struggle under Bianca's foot. "Good. Do you wish to forfeit now or do you wish to continue?"

"I…I will continue." Winter grunted, and sighed in relief as Bianca raised her foot off her back. She immediately launched herself backwards and tried a slash towards Bianca, who easily dodged the attack. Winter grit her teeth and attempted a barrage of attacks against Bianca, expecting her to deflect them.

She did, and Winter smirked, as she continued her assault, she formed a Glyph behind Bianca, summoning a Beowolf. She slowly pushed Bianca backwards, pushing her towards the summoned Beowolf, but not expecting it when Bianca suddenly flicked her blade downwards, jumping backwards and kicking the Beowolf towards her.

Winter grunted as Beowolf crashed into her. She tried to push it away from her, but then suddenly it disappeared and her eyes widened as she felt something impale her shoulder.

"A good attempt, but you have much to learn." Bianca said, looking at her impassively, before pulling Alphenlocken out, making Winter gasp. She looked up and saw that her Aura was now down to 30% as the wound in her shoulder healed. "Go rest for now, Winter. We'll have our own training later."

Winter took a deep breath as she picked herself up, standing straight before nodding at Bianca. She knew that they wouldn't be chosen as instructors by Ironwood if they weren't capable themselves, but from what she saw of Bianca's prowess, they were definitely powerful people.

Winter walked towards the bleachers where she saw Arthur waiting.

Arthur waved at her briefly before continuing to watch Bianca with his arms crossed as she called multiple soldiers to fight against her. "How was the fight against her?"

Winter glanced at Arthur for a moment, raising a brow before looking back to watch as Bianca fought multiple soldiers at once. And winning against them. Winter just sighed, not even she could last against more than five soldiers for longer than three seconds. That was with her Semblance as well.

"Frustrating." Winter muttered, and heard Arthur chuckle.

"Yeah, that's normal." Arthur smiled at her for a moment, "Most of her opponents usually never get more than a glancing hit against her."

"The scar?" Winter asked, having seen the scar on Bianca's left eye.

Arthur shrugged, "Said it was from her first real fight. Got too close to an Arma Gigas possessed by a Grimm. She still won though."

Winter hummed, observing the gracefulness of how Bianca fought, it almost reminded her of her own sister. The only difference being how Weiss didn't have a scar on her left eye as far as she can remember.

"You think you've got a chance at getting a hit in on her?" Arthur looked at her with a raised brow as he leaned back on the pole behind him.

Winter only looked at him briefly before shaking her head. "I think in the time frame that the two of you will be here, I wouldn't be able to do so."

"Hmm, perhaps, but it doesn't mean you can't try." Arthur smiled at her and she rolled her eyes.

"A possibility that could hardly even be considered one with the gap in our skills? I wouldn't think so, Arthur. It would take me months to even reach the speed of which Bianca possesses. I am nothing but a young Specialist. You can't expect much from someone of that caliber." Winter scoffed, but Arthur continued to smile.

"True. But it doesn't mean that because of the gap which the two of you have at the moment then you won't be able to achieve even a simple scratch upon Bianca within two months." Arthur grinned as he stood straight and reached out a hand towards her. "Come on, Winter, a little bit of hard work and some help from others can be the answer that you need."

Winter rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Oh, and what would you be able to help me with?"

Arthur just sighed and shook his head, "Well, of course, I have once beaten Bianca at fencing. I can't tell you of how successful of an endeavor it would be for me to try to spar against her now, but I can tell you one thing for sure." He smirked, "I'm an expert at handling a saber."

Winter frowned and narrowed her eyes at him. "How would you be an expert at handling a saber? You have a longsword."

Arthur smiled and raised his brow, "Well, would you like to find out?"

Winter remembered her fight against Bianca and grimaced, before looking at his still outstretched hand. She looked back up at him and sighed. "Yes, but I would like to not get beaten down this time, please."

Arthur just laughed as she took his hand. "Of course. Only Bianca really tends to do that kind of thing."

"Ah—" Before Winter could say anything else, she felt something inside her stir, and her eyes widened as she saw herself glowing a slightly warped silvery-white hue. She looked towards Arthur and just saw him smiling as he gripped her hand, eyes closed.

Winter calmed, and felt a song inside her. It started as a calm tune that reminded her of an ocean, which eventually formed a melody with something within her, something she didn't even know was there.

Her Aura? She didn't know, but it was a song she knew by heart, and perhaps by something more, and the oceanic tune melded with hers and created a melody that she was surprised to hear of.

Just as quickly as it came, it ended. And she found herself letting out a breath as she gripped Arthur's gloved hands.

She looked deep into those blue eyes and…

And she saw it all.

Beneath that calm ocean, she saw a sea of turmoil, despair, and uncertainty. But somehow, even through it all, it seemed that at the end of it, the ocean stayed calm. Her eyes widened as she came to understood just what she felt.

"Your…"

Arthur just smiled as he let go of her hand. "Would you like to start training?"

Winter blinked for a moment, before her gaze hardened and she nodded at him.

She saw that beneath the calm exterior of Arthur, was a storm, but even through it all, he stood vigilant.

For all that he was broken, he stood.

She smiled as she handed him her other saber. "Perhaps this would be helpful for you to teach me."

"Of course." Arthur nodded, and he grinned as she rushed him.

* * *

Bianca jumped onto the bed as she got into her room with Arthur. Arthur just sighed and shook his head, taking his clothes off and getting ready to take a shower.

"Ah, it's been so long since I've had a soft bed…" Bianca muttered as she hugged the large bed.

"Really? 4 years of being out in the wilderness hasn't gotten you used to sleeping in rough places?" Arthur asked, as he rummaged through the cabinets with only a towel wrapped around his form. "I'd have thought you to be better, Bianca."

Bianca rolled her eyes at him, turning slightly and staring at his back, "Yeah sure Arthur. I can't have myself appreciating a nice place to stay every once in a while?"

"No." Arthur shrugged, before standing up as he found the clothes he needed. "We've had plenty of them before. But eh, do whatever you wish. I'm going to take a shower."

"Urgh, take me with you please." Bianca grumbled, "I don't want to clean myself."

Arthur paused at that, looking at her with a raised brow. "Seriously?" Bianca sat up on the bed and pouted at him. He sighed, "Bianca I'm not your butler."

There was a sharp intake of breath, "I—I know." Bianca muttered with a gulp, closing her eyes as she hugged herself.

Arthur's eyes widened before he looked around for a moment and walked towards her, "I'm sorry, Weiss…" He whispered as he hugged her.

Bianca—Weiss shook her head, leaning into him and hugging him back, "N-No, it's okay Jaune it's just…" She took a deep breath. "There are some things that are hard to forget… is all."

They were both silent for a moment, before Arthur—Jaune, spoke again. "Yeah. I understand…"

Weiss moved her hand to his cheek, looking up at him, uncaring of the tears flowing down her face. "It's okay now though." She smiled, cupping his head around both of her hands, "We're here… We're—we're finally here…" Weiss choked on her tears as she sobbed, leaning her forehead on his. She smiled at him though. "Jaune… we made it."

Jaune chuckled, for all that he was crying as well, "Yeah… we actually did."

For the first time in years. They both cried their hearts out.

* * *

Arthur woke up with Bianca right beside him, cuddled in his arms. He smiled at that, uncaring of how numb his right arm was. With his left hand, he brushed the hair out of her face, admiring how beautiful she looked under the light of the sun.

He sighed for a moment and looked up at the ceiling.

Where were they?

Arthur chuckled at that question for a moment, as he thought of the obvious answer to that question, but frowned again.

Where were they, really?

Arthur knew that in the four years that he and Bianca were together as the last two remaining people in Remnant that nothing really changed or happened between them. Sure, they care for each other deeply, and would be incredibly broken should the other go away now, but he had to ask the question to himself.

Where did they stand?

Where was he? As Weiss'—Bianca's partner.

Where did he stand?

…

Where did she stand?

Arthur didn't know the answer to that question. But what he did know was this:

He would never leave her side ever. He didn't care. He would die for her, whether she wanted that or not.

So did he love her?

He did not know.

Was there even a chance of love between them now, when they were far too busy trying to make sure that they didn't fuck up this time.

That the world doesn't fall to chaos this time.

That maybe then… maybe then their friends—and their younger selves—can find peace. He didn't know about himself and Bianca. All he did know was that.

That was the reason they were fighting for.

Not for themselves, not for each other… but for their friends.

And maybe. Maybe he was okay with that.

He felt Bianca stir beside him and he looked at her and saw her awake.

He smiled, and she smiled as well.

Okay, maybe he would fight for her as well.

He just didn't want to lose anymore of his loved ones.

Not now.

Not anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's that White Knight fluff you've been waiting for... I guess?


	4. No Strings Attached

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh... this chapter was not fun to write. that is all.

Arthur put his hand on Winter's shoulders as she narrowed her eyes at the battlefield below of her.

"You must stay calm as you analyze the battlefield, Winter. Remember that there is no use for any intense emotion in these types of situations. It would only cloud your vision and your judgement. Now, do your best to be critical as you analyze the battlefield and tell me what you see." Arthur said as he stood beside Winter, overlooking the arena below them.

Winter had summoned seven Beowolves down there and currently they were in a clustered formation as they faced fifteen humanoid robots in front of them.

"I see a disadvantage in numbers on my forces against my enemies." Winter replied, "As far as I can see I have no way to win this situation."

Arthur hummed and removed his hand from her shoulder and crossed his arms, "Right. What else do you see?"

"My forces are surrounded by a thick forest while my enemies are in an open area." Winter frowned, "So far they haven't moved, leaving us in a stalemate. I would direct my forces to the open area but with the disadvantage in numbers…"

Arthur nodded, "It's not ideal. Though that doesn't mean you can't win in this situation."

"If I could just lure them to the forest…" Winter muttered,

"You don't necessarily have to lure them into the forest, Winter. Look at the formation the robots—or the androids are in. They're not exactly in a situation where it would be the most effective to use their advantage, don't you think?" At his words, she raised her brow and hummed to herself.

"Perhaps. So if I direct my Beowolves properly and have them stick together then I'll win?" Winter asked, glancing at Arthur.

"I don't know Winter, what do you think?" Arthur smiled and Winter rolled her eyes. "Make a decision quick, we don't exactly have all the time in the world."

Winter nodded and she sent a command to her summoned Beowolves, and they started to run towards the androids.

When the Beowolves came into the open area the androids started shooting at them. The Beowolves were tougher than usual however, and Winter was able to command them to take out three of the fifteen androids in the clearing.

The androids started to make a circle formation around the Beowolves, but as they moved towards that position, the other four Beowolves were able to take out six androids, but two of those Beowolves were also taken out.

Winter narrowed her eyes and she directed the Beowolves that she had left to scatter to dodge the incoming fire and pounce at the remaining six androids, slowly clumping them all together before two Beowolves were taken out as well, in exchange for two of the androids.

Winter smiled at this point and directed a final attack towards the androids.

She had three Beowolves left, but there were only four androids left, so she felt confident. The four androids were clumped together in the middle as two Beowolves attacked from the side and one in the front. In a series of swipes, three androids were taken out, but the last android was able to take one last Beowolf out before falling as well.

An alarm sounded out and Winter looked to Arthur with a smile. Arthur raised a brow before nodding.

"Impressive. While not exactly the most optimal outcome, you were able to finish the objective. Well done, Winter." Arthur then looked to the side and saw Bianca just finishing up training the other soldiers and specialists. "Alright, now we should be able to move on and you can start training your summoning control with Bianca. Before we do that, however—"

Their scrolls rang as they received a new message.

Arthur already had it in his hand as he received the message. Frowning at it. "It seems the General is calling for us."

Winter called off her summoned Beowolf and picked up her scroll, looking at the message she had received from Ironwood.

_Ironwood,_

_Come to my office immediately. You have some guests._

Winter watched as Arthur sighed and she frowned.

How could Arthur have known that her father was visiting?

* * *

"A pleasure to meet you, Jacques Schnee." Arthur said as he shook his hand with Jacques, "I'm Arthur Arc, and this is my partner Bianca—"

"Schnee." Jacques said with a raised brow, making Arthur frown as he released his hand and Jacques shook Bianca's. "An Arc and a Schnee… what a peculiar partnership."

Bianca just nodded and released her hand from Jacques' hold. For a moment, she glanced at Arthur who looked back at her with a smile before they both looked back to Jacques who just looked at them with a smile.

"Odd, isn't it? I wonder where an Arc and a Schnee would have come from that would have them become so powerful." Jacques muttered, "And so old as well." He sighed, "Well, as far as I know Willow herself has no sibling where you could have come from so it only makes me wonder  _where_  exactly the two of you have come from."

Arthur just shrugged, "I wouldn't know either. All we know is that we have both semblances which signifies our families very clearly."

Jacques hummed, "As for the Aura…" At the mention of that, both Arthur and Bianca narrowed their eyes at him.

"Yes, their Aura certainly has distinct similarities to that of an Arc and a Schnee respectively." Ironwood said, "However, it doesn't matter where they came from or how they were conceived, much as you might be interested in that, Jacques, what matters is that they're here right now." He sighed, "Jack, what did you wish from the two of them?"

"I assume the two of you are familiar with the White Fang?" Jacques asked them, and Arthur scoffed.

"Of course." Arthur answered,

"We've certainly dealt with them… many times before." Bianca muttered, looking at Jacques, "You wished for us to protect a warehouse?"

"No." Jacques smiled. "I need the two of you to infiltrate their base."

Bianca sighed, "Mistral?"

"Ah… Mistral." Arthur muttered to himself,

"How do you know?" The other person in the room, standing beside Winter, Weiss, asked. "But the details of such raids aren't supposed to be public…"

"They aren't." Bianca said, frowning, glancing at Arthur for a moment, "We've just been noticing a price hike of Dust on Mistral lately…"

"Yeah, and that doesn't always happen unless the supply is low, or if the company itself changes the prices. Which didn't happen, so there was only really one reason for it, honestly." Arthur shrugged, "So you want us to rig the place up or something? Because while we're okay with that, we're not exactly the type of people who'd just kill people as we're told to."

"Yes, we're not looking for the two of you to murder them." Jacques said with an almost amused smile. "That would be bad, now wouldn't it? No I was thinking of something more helpful for the two of you."

They both frowned at that, "Like what?"

"Think of it as a… warning to them, per se. The terms itself are simple. Would you like to hear them?"

Arthur and Bianca looked at each other for a moment, feeling that this would most likely hinder their plans in the long run.

Both of them sighed. No strings attached indeed.

* * *

Weiss watched as both Arthur and Bianca went into her father's office and blinked.

She found it… interesting, to meet another Schnee. Interestingly, not one that was born of her mother nor father.

It seemed odd to her, and she honestly wondered where Bianca had come from just like her father did, but it wasn't in her place to ask, nor would it have been the proper thing to do.

Weiss felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see her sister, Winter.

It must have been odd too, she thought, for Winter to have learned about Bianca and meeting her.

"How has your training been, Weiss?" Winter smiled at her, making her remember of her training.

"Ah… yes, Winter. It has been going well." Weiss smiled at her sister, before glancing towards the door to her father's office again, "Though I am interested in Arthur and Bianca…"

Winter hummed, "Yes. The two have certainly been an enigma so far."

"They're your instructors now?" Weiss asked, having heard that both Bianca and Arthur were recruited to become the Atlas Military's main instructors.

Winter nodded, "Yes. Though at the moment they're mostly doing it as service to Atlas so that they'll be allowed to go out of Atlas. So far, they have been doing rather well."

"Where are they planning to head towards?" Weiss asked, curious despite herself.

Winter chuckled, "So curious aren't you?" Weiss blushed at that, "But to answer your question, they're heading to Vale. Beacon, to be precise."

"As teachers?" Weiss said a little excitedly. "I-I mean…"

"Yes. As teachers." Winter nodded, "I suppose now you have a way to convince father to let you go to Beacon."

Weiss nodded, looking at the door towards her father's office again. "Yes… I suppose I do."

Her problem now was, how she was going to talk to them.

* * *

_It always confused her, how for all he had a shield to protect,_

_He couldn't protect._

_It always confused her, how for all he had a sword to attack,_

_He couldn't attack._

_It always haunted her, how for all she had the power to protect,_

_She couldn't protect._

_It always haunted her, how for all she had the intellect to attack,_

_She couldn't attack._

_It always haunted her, how for all the strength she had to save them._

_She couldn't save them._

_She couldn't._

_She couldn't._

_She couldn't._

_Pyrrha._

_Nora._

_Ren._

_Yang._

_Blake._

_Ruby._

_Jaune._

_No._

_No…_

_NO!_

_She was always alone._

_And will always be._

_Forever._

* * *

 

Bianca—Weiss gasped as she suddenly sat up on her bed.

She was alone—no. She saw Jaune there on his bed.

Weiss sighed in relief and went down her bed and walked over to his.

She crouched down by the bed and stared at him in his sleep, finding a smile creep up on her face.

Her hand slowly moved towards his face, and it stayed there for a moment, just letting herself make sure that he was there. Her hand moved towards his hair and she couldn't help but start messing up his hair.

Her face moved close towards his and when their noses touched, she just watched him.

His serene and peaceful looking face.

He always joked about how she was a Snow Angel. Well, she didn't think that to be true, but she stopped caring about him calling her that after Haven.

But… if there was one thing she knew the truth to it was this:

He was an Angel.

Her Angel.

Her Arc Angel.

For a moment, she chuckled at that, but she closed her eyes as she nuzzled her face close to his own.

She heard Jaune grumble in his sleep and she moved her face back slightly.

"Weiss… if you wanted to sleep on my bed with me you could have just asked…" He murmured with his eyes still closed.

She chuckled and shook her head. "And that's why you're my Arc Angel."

Jaune chuckled for a moment before moving back slightly, giving her room to hop on.

He opened his eyes and looked at her own.

She could get lost in those eyes anytime she wanted to, she knew that. And there were times as well, where she just would get lost in them regardless.

But they had other things to do.

More important things.

Weiss moved onto his bed and got comfortable in it, she looked at Jaune and saw that his eyes were already closed.

She smiled at that, and cuddled against him.

"Never leave my side." Weiss muttered as sleep slowly overtook her.

"Never, Weiss… never…" Jaune mumbled pulling her closer to him.

They fell asleep shortly afterwards.


	5. Day Off

_"You can't always rely on the Maiden's powers to fix everything, Weiss."_

_"You say that, and yet you know that it is our only hope to fixing all of this, Jaune."_

**_\- Jaune Arc speaking with Weiss Schnee on the feasibility of restoring Remnant. Two years after the Fall of Atlas._ **

* * *

Bianca found herself face to face with her younger self and blinked, tilting her head slightly. "Yes, Weiss? You wished to speak with me?" Currently both she and Arthur were at the Schnee Manor, having been given a day off to let Bianca spend some time with the Schnee's. Bianca knew that it was just an excuse, however, for Jacques to try and use them to dissuade Weiss from becoming a Huntress.

Or maybe not. Bianca didn't actually know. She'd ask Arthur on his thoughts on this, but he was currently busy speaking with the other Schnee's, sans Jacques, by the gardens.

Bianca found it interesting, looking at her younger self. She looked much more… pure, she supposed. Naïve, perhaps? Maybe, but she might be able to change that with how Weiss seems to look up at her already.

Well, both literally and figuratively—

She blinked for a moment, clearing her thoughts.

Yang certainly did a number on her personality, Bianca thought, then again, Arthur did just as much.

"I was wondering if you could show me how to summon." Weiss asked, hands behind her as she looked up at Bianca.

Bianca raised her brows, remembering how she hadn't fought the Arma Gigas yet. But then she frowned, perhaps in this timeline she  _wouldn't_  have to face the Arma Gigas…

She didn't even think Weiss would get to face the Arma Gigas.

"You wish to summon your fallen foes?" Bianca asked, smile coming to her face, "Perhaps by now you should know that you first have to kill the actual creature by yourself before you can actually summon it."

Weiss blinked. "Ah, yes. Winter has taught me that already."

Bianca hummed, "So she has." Then she started walking towards the courtyard, "Follow me." Weiss nodded, and followed Bianca, a step behind her. "Why do you wish to summon so soon?"

Weiss frowned at that, and for a few seconds she stayed silent as they walked towards the courtyard from the living room.

Why did she want to learn how to summon?

Weiss didn't know the answer to that.

Or perhaps she did, but was just afraid to speak about it. She didn't really know. If there was one thing she was sure about though, it was that learning how to summon would have made her stronger.

Bianca just hummed, "Perhaps you don't wish to speak of it then. That's fine. I just want to know one thing before I start to train you." Weiss blinked at that, surprised at how Bianca agreed to her so easily. "Why do you want to be a Huntress?"

… Ah.

* * *

Arthur placed down his cup of tea as he sat with Willow, Winter, and Whitley. It felt slightly odd to him that he would be the one talking to them and not Bianca, but he supposed they wanted to know more about him who seems to be with Bianca pretty much all the time. That, and they would most likely ask him first about Bianca and then compare what Bianca says later on to see if there were any inconsistencies between what they say.

But that's not going to happen since they've already planned this out long before. That, and Ironwood had given them their backstories already.

"An Arc and a Schnee… a peculiar partnership indeed…" Willow muttered as she watched him with a raised brow. "The two of you grew up together?"

"Not… exactly." Arthur sighed, "Matters in our tribe wasn't exactly very peaceful nor was it very open to men and women working together." He shrugged, leaning back slightly, "Overtime, however, with what Bianca was able to do, that view shifted quite a bit."

"Interesting…" Willow frowned, looking down into her cup. "I do wonder how an Arc and a Schnee would just end up in some odd tribe out of nowhere. Must have been a strange life."

Arthur smiled at that, "Yeah, but I suppose it did help us become what we are now. One thing's for sure though, we're just extremely lucky that we're not dead yet."

Willow raised a brow at that, "Oh?"

Whitley looked at him curiously, "The White Fang?"

Arthur looked at Whitley and shook his head, "No. While they were a part of the problem, it was more like working  _with_  them that was the problem."

"Ah…"

"Always sent us out on these missions which were hardly possible. Kind of lucky in our last one that we were immediately arrested by Ironwood and not anyone else. Otherwise… things might have been complicated." Arthur looked down at his reflection on the tea's surface.

He looked different now. Which made sense, he supposed. In a way, he thought he almost looked like his grandfather… That made a frown appear on his face.

Perhaps he should call home some time soon then…

"What were your names originally?" Winter asked, and Arthur looked up at her. "You've said that you were glad for the General to have changed your names to something else. What were they originally?"

"Boring names, really." Arthur shrugged, "Joan Arc and White Schnee. The people of the tribe were… they weren't exactly the most creative people out there, to be honest."

Willow snorted at that. "Well, I shall be headed off now. Would you like to come, Whitley?"

Whitley looked to his mother and nodded, "Yes, mother." He then looked to Arthur, "It was nice meeting you, Arthur."

Arthur smiled. "Likewise, Whitley, Willow." He nodded to both of them, and both he and Winter were left alone in the table.

"Joan and White huh…" Winter muttered, "Those seemed like perfectly good names, why did the two of you choose to not use them?"

"Well, for one, I didn't want my name to sound like a woman's name. Other thing was… well, the General put it in our contracts so we were kind of forced to just assume Arthur and Bianca." Arthur said with a shrug. "That, and… well, we want to leave our pasts behind. Assuming a new identity helps with that."

Winter nodded at that, humming.

And in that moment, Arthur saw Bianca and Weiss go out of the manor, his gaze meeting Bianca's. She smiled at him, and he reciprocated it with his own smile and a nod.

Winter looked as well and nodded at Weiss with a small smile, before looking back to Arthur. "Are you not going to follow them?"

Arthur shook his head. "Bianca needs this." At Winter's confused look, he smiled and continued to elaborate. "She sees much of herself in Weiss, and thus would want to teach as much as she can to her." Arthur paused and took a sip of his tea, before continuing. "She doesn't want Weiss to commit the same mistakes she did."

Winter hummed at that. She supposed with the history that the two of them had, Bianca would see herself within Weiss. "You're rather adept at strategy and quite tactical too. Have you led a group before?"

"More like a ragtag group of people." Arthur shrugged. "Well, I kind of failed as a leader though." He sighed, looking up at the sky.

"Why would you say that?" Winter blinked, "You're quite skilled as a leader as far as I can see."

"Bianca and I… we're the only ones left of that group." Arthur muttered as he closed his eyes.

Winter gripped her fists for a moment, about to apologize, before Arthur spoke again,

He looked into her eyes. "I've failed them. And I don't want to make that same mistake again, Winter." He smiled. "I see the qualities of a good leader in you, and I think the General does too. And… much as I—well, anyone really—hate to admit, the General is getting old." Arthur stood up and walked to her side, putting a hand on her shoulder. He smiled at her. "The General could use a little help from time to time. And I think Atlas would certainly benefit from having two Generals. Don't you think so?"

Winter blushed slightly at that, looking away for a moment, before taking a deep breath and nodding at him. She smiled as well. "I think so."

Arthur removed his hand from her shoulder and he offered a hand to her. "While we're here, I suppose we can continue our training?"

Winter blinked and smiled, grabbing his gloved hand. "I suppose we can."

Winter thought Arthur was an interesting man. Compassionate, certainly, and intelligent.

Maybe he was right.

Maybe she can be a General herself.

She liked the sound of that.

* * *

Arthur opened his scroll as he heard the sound of the showers turning on, signifying that Bianca was starting to take a shower already.

He sighed as he put down the number on the scroll. A number he didn't expect would ever come handy at a time like this.

A number he didn't expect he'd ever have to call again after he left his family.

He took a deep breath, before pressing the call button, and the tell-tale sound of the call initiating was the only sound that registered on his head.

He stared at the screen, waiting for someone to pick it up.

Anyone, he didn't care if it was his sister, mother or even Jaune, he just didn't—

A blond man with dark blue eyes answered the call.

It was his father, Alexander Arc. Or, more properly, Alexander Arc II.

Alexander narrowed his eyes at him, "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me Arthur." Arthur smiled, waving slightly. "I… I guess you've heard of me from Ironwood?"

Alexander blinked for a moment, "Oh! You're that Arc kid Ironwood brought up."

Arthur chuckled, "Guess I am."

"So why'd you call?" Alexander asked, "Sorry, but uh, the kids and the others aren't up right now. I guess you wanted to meet them?"

"Yeah, kind of." Arthur shrugged, "But I guess it's good enough that I get to meet you, I suppose, Alexander, or… I guess I should call you Uncle?"

Alexander frowned, "You're Max's kid?"

"Guess I am. That's what the letter seemed to tell me. Along with the sword." Arthur said picking up the sword beside the bed for a moment, showing it to Alexander, "Noxia Mors, apparently."

"Huh." Alexander blinked, surprised for a moment, "I didn't think Max would actually create a sword, but if you're his son, that would make sense…"

"Yeah…" Arthur muttered awkwardly, "Haven't exactly met him."

"Oh. I guess you wouldn't know but… he's passed already." Alexander said, looking concerned. "Anyways, if you wanted to meet the rest of the Arc family then you can just call us tomorrow. Though, I guess you'd be a little busy with the workload Ironwood's given you."

Arthur laughed, "Yeah. Not exactly the most flexible schedule if I'm going to be honest with you."

"Yeah, Ironwood's always been like that—" Suddenly, Alexander narrowed his eyes, looking to the side of the screen. "Is that… Jaune? What are you doing up so late?"

Arthur's eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked at the date at the top right of the scroll.

It was the date he'd gotten his forged transcripts.


	6. Intervention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Urgh, 3 hours late. Sorry about that but here's the chapter guys.
> 
> Also, if anyone's interested in beta-ing or just seeing my drafts as they gradually change to the final ones you see here right now or if you just want to get early snippets of the chapters, then I have a Discord server for my writing stuff here: discord. gg/zhn7zr7
> 
> You should already know what to do with that link if you're interested. Meanwhile, here's the chapter!

 

Jaune was screwed. He knew that, he knew that the dealer had given him the date today because it would be convenient, but why did it also have to be the day where his dad would suddenly be in the living room talking to someone.

"Jaune? What are you doing up so late?" His father, Alexander Arc, narrowed his eyes at him and he gulped.

Jaune's hand awkwardly went to the hilt of their family weapon, Crocea Mors, and he looked around for an excuse, before his eyes landed on the scroll. "U-uh… I was—I was wondering what you were doing downstairs…?" Jaune smiled awkwardly and his father glared at him before sighing and shaking his head.

"I know you're going out to go training again, Jaune. I've told you before, if you wanted to train to become a Huntsman,  _don't_  do it late at night." His father said, making him frown.

It's not like they ever taught him much of anything either though… Though he couldn't really blame them for it.

"Come here, Jaune. Since you're awake you might as well meet your cousin." Jaune blinked at that. Cousin? When did he have a cousin? As far as he could remember his Uncle Max passed away without having a child…

Jaune shook his head, however, and walked towards his father, curious to see who this cousin was.

He got beside his father and was greeted with the smile of a blond man with oceanic blue eyes and a clean blond hair with a small stubble growing underneath his almost squared chin.

"Hey there, Jaune. I'm Arthur." Arthur smiled at him through the scroll and he blinked.

What?

"Uh… hi?" Jaune said awkwardly, "I… yeah. I'm Jaune—I-I guess you already know that…"

Arthur chuckled slightly at that, and for some reason as Jaune looked at him through the scroll he saw how sad he looked.

"So, Jaune, why are you up so late?" Arthur asked, and Jaune everted his gaze from the scroll,

His father, scoffed, "Kid's probably been trying to go out and train again."

"Hmm, training. Isn't it a little late for you to do that, Jaune?" Arthur frowned, "Regardless, wouldn't you be trained in the day or something?"

Jaune grimaced at that and scratched the back if his head, "Uh… yeah, but, uh, Dad's kind of busy for the most part so I kind of have to train alone."

Arthur hummed and nodded at that, "I suppose that makes sense. Guess the same's true for your mother?"

Jaune and Alexander chuckled.

"Yeah. Sadly life kind of gets both of us busy. You could just imagine how it is trying to raise eight kids." Alexander smiled sadly. "I'd love to train Jaune, honestly I really do, and I try to train him as much as I can in my free time, but… just imagine the girls."

Jaune smiled at that, scratching the back of his head again. "And I can't just take their time away from dad either so for the most part I kind of only have myself to rely on for the most part."

Arthur hummed, "I'm guessing most of the other instructor's you've found were also pretty busy?"

Alexander frowned with a nod, "Yeah. Lev's pretty busy, so is Paul, so I don't really have much of anyone else to ask. Not many people instruct with swords and shields at this point. All of them that do so are in Mistral, and you could guess how much  _that_  costs."

Arthur grimaced, "Yeah, I can imagine." For a moment he narrowed his eyes before smiling. "Well, tell you what Jaune, since I'm going to try and visit you guys as soon as possible, do you want me to train you? Noxia Mors was said to be made with the intention of being a weapon similar to that of Crocea Mors, and I'm quite skilled at using it."

Jaune blinked, wait, did Arthur mean…?

Arthur smiled. "So Jaune, do you want me to teach you how to wield a sword and shield?"

Jaune just gaped, and his father beside him laughed. "Haha, well, you really are an Arc after all. Come on Jaune, do you want to be taught by Arthur? I'm pretty sure with that kind of training from someone who's been assigned to train Atlas Military Soldiers and Specialists, you're going to get to Beacon in no time."

Jaune blinked, unsure of what to say, "I…"

"Beacon?" Arthur blinked, "Oh, you're going to go to Beacon?" He then laughed, "What a coincidence, I was headed to Beacon myself!" At this point, Arthur grinned at Jaune who had wide eyes.

"W-What?"

"I was going to apply as a professor there, but since you're headed there as well, I might as well just train you to be ready for the entrance exam so that you won't have too much problems going in. Or… I could even get you a word with Professor Ozpin myself." Arthur said with a smile.

Jaune gulped, "W-wait… this is way too surreal. A-are you really going to help me that much?"

Arthur shrugged, "Well yeah, I mean, you guys are like my only family at this point." He chuckled, and Jaune frowned.

Then he remembered about his Uncle Max, and he understood what he meant. "Ah… thanks a lot, I guess… Though I honestly don't think you need to do all of that for me."

Arthur just shrugged again, "Well, if it would help you and your family, then I'd happily do it. You wouldn't mind, right, Alexander?"

Alexander laughed at that, "Of course not! I believe that Jaune can be a great Hunter if another Arc were to teach him as well. Besides, Crocea Mors needed a new wielder soon, and I think Jaune can fit that role in time and with proper training."

Arthur smiled, "Then I will do my best. So, what do you say Jaune, do you want to become a Huntsman?"

Jaune blinked, before grinning. "Yes!"

* * *

Weiss flipped back in the air and sent three quick strikes onto the Beowolf that was under her before she landed.

She closed her eyes and twirled her blade, the Beowolf behind her disappearing into a number of falling snowflakes.

"Keep your eyes on the battle, Weiss." Bianca said and Weiss dodged to the side, pulling her blade, Myrtenaster, up to deflect an oncoming strike from Bianca, and she opened her eyes. Bianca smiled with a snort, "You're not fighting to impress anyone Weiss. Remember this in a battlefield." Swords clashed while Bianca spoke this, and Weiss did her best to keep up and deflect as many attacks as possible.

Weiss understood what this was, it was a battle of speed.

What she knew about wielding a weapon such as Myrtenaster was that it was not a sword made for slicing. Cutting, maybe, but it was made for one thing and one thing only.

To pierce. Or, in other words, to stab.

Thus, it didn't truly matter what the strength of the wielder of the blade was, all that truly mattered in a battle with this weapon was the speed of the wielder and how well the wielder knew how to use it.

Stabbing is easy, anyone with the sword would know that, knowing when to do it with a rapier however, was both the most important, and the hardest part.

Weiss knew that, which was why she was struggling to fight Bianca right now.

Bianca aimed to strike Weiss' shoulder, but Weiss pulled herself towards a glyph she made to the side, evading the attack, after which she rushed forward to strike Bianca.

The aim of this fight was simple, Weiss gets one strike onto Bianca and she wins. That was all.

Weiss thought it to be a simple affair at first, in their training sessions before, but she slowly came to realize it wasn't as simple as she had thought.

Well, she should have expected that already, since Bianca was essentially a much more skilled fencer than her, but she expected that with what she had already known, she would have been able to at least get one strike into Bianca's defense.

Weiss narrowed her eyes as she got closer towards Bianca, leaning forward with Myrtenaster outstretched in front of her. Suddenly Bianca moved and barely evaded her attack, before striking Weiss' back with the hilt of her own blade, Alphenlocken, making Weiss yelp as she fell to the ground.

"Don't lean forward, it opens you up to an attack on your backside." Bianca explained with a sigh, sheathing Alphenlocken to her hip and giving a hand to Weiss to take.

Weiss groaned, turning around to take Bianca's hand. "How would I even get one strike on you? You're too fast…"

Bianca snorted and rolled her eyes, "I even toned myself down for you to catch up, Weiss. Appreciate my consideration at least."

"I-I mean—" Weiss' eyes widened and she stuttered, before Bianca laughed.

"Oh come on Weiss. I was just kidding. Though you should already understand that I'm not going as fast as I can." Bianca then looked towards Arthur and Winter who were training. "There, look at Arthur and Winter." Bianca pointed towards them and Weiss turned to watch as Arthur and Winter trained.

They were moving incredibly fast, almost fast enough that she was hardly able to see them actually swinging their sabers.

Weiss blinked as Arthur and Winter moved around their half of the courtyard at a much quicker pace, to the point that to Weiss, they were practically a blur as they moved around one another.

There were moments where she'd be able to see glimpses of their sabers clashing, but that was all really.

"They're… moving so fast." Weiss muttered, somehow surprised even though she knew that she's seen Winter fight like this before.

Just not this fast.

"They are." Bianca nodded, "But, that's a rather high level which would take you years to get to still, so just keep that in mind."

Weiss nodded, then looked at Bianca, seeing how… odd she looked as she watched Arthur and Winter train. Weiss frowned. She didn't really understand what that look meant, but she knew that it was nothing she needed to ask, so she just looked back at Arthur and Winter as they trained.

As she looked back, however, it seemed that their training had just ended with how Winter was suddenly on the floor before Arthur gave her a hand which Winter took as she got up and faced him, before bowing. Arthur smiled and waved her off.

Weiss blinked as she suddenly remembered something, "Ah, about my summoning…"

Bianca chuckled and shook her head at that, "No, Weiss. You need to have patience before we can move onto summoning lessons. Besides, while they are quite useful and powerful, they take a toll on your Aura that it's generally much better to just fight them on your own."

"Ah… I understand." Weiss was disappointed to hear that, but she could agree with Bianca's words. After all, she hasn't ever seen Bianca use her summons in her actual battles just yet.

Weiss blinked, had she actually seen either Arthur or Bianca in an actual battle yet?

It made her wonder… just how powerful were they really?

Weiss couldn't think much on it however as Arthur suddenly approached them and looked towards Bianca.

"Alright, we're a few days away from our trip to Mistral, so we need to finish our last round of training for everyone. How's the progress on that so far, Bianca?" Arthur asked, and Bianca smiled.

"We're actually almost done, I suppose you just need to finish your tactical training with the Sergeants and we're done." Bianca said, and Arthur nodded,

"Good. Because I talked with Ironwood and we can still get an early flight tomorrow once I finish my last round of training with the Specialists and the Sergeants." Arthur said, before glancing at Weiss for a moment, who straightened momentarily, before he looked back to Bianca. "How's the training for Weiss?"

"Quite well, she's been progressing rather nicely, I think she should already be able to qualify for Beacon now." Bianca smiled at Weiss who smiled back. "I think you can fit in some training with her too later if you think it's necessary." Bianca said, and for reasons, Weiss herself didn't know, she stiffened at the thought of Arthur training her.

It wasn't that she thought he was a bad teacher, no, far from that, there was something about him and how he trained Winter that intimidated her.

Or maybe not intimidate, but she just felt…

Arthur stared at her again, and she felt her cheeks heat up slightly. He raised a brow at that and she looked away.

"… Maybe not today. I think I'll let her rest for now." Arthur said, looking back to Bianca with a shrug. "So I wanted to talk to Jacques about something, I need your opinion on it."

Bianca blinked at that, "Huh? Okay, sure. What is it about?"

"My family." Arthur said, making everyone else look at him in confusion.


	7. Arrival at Mistral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's interested in beta-ing or just seeing my drafts as they gradually change to the final ones you see here right now or if you just want to get early snippets of the chapters, then I have a Discord server for my writing stuff here: zhn7zr7
> 
> You should already know what to do with that link if you're interested. Meanwhile, here's the chapter! (sorry it's late btw, got real busy yesterday and was too tired to write the chapter)

 

Arthur thought Jacques was an interesting man.

Oh sure, Jacques was a genius by all accounts. Nobody would be sane enough to just suddenly turn into a Schnee without much political background whatsoever. That's why Arthur thought it was unfortunate that Willow had to be who she was, but then, he supposed, Weiss or Bianca wouldn't be here without him, so he can't blame them either.

It was unfortunate that it was also due to Jacques that Atlas actually began to fall. He did his best, he fought valiantly, and, being a smart man all-throughout his life, saw that there was no saving him at that point, so he decided to make his last stand to protect the remnants of RWBYJNPR.

Shame, really, Arthur thought he'd have been a useful ally if handled correctly, but then again. Then again, this was their one last chance after all. Arthur himself still didn't really know how to handle Jacques, neither did Ozpin at the time, so he just chose to get Ironwood, but… that was probably Ozpin's mistake.

Allying with the person who controls the single most important resource of all life in Remnant.

Life that is both good, and bad.

"Are you ready, Arthur?" He heard Bianca ask from his earpiece and smiled.

"You're rather excited for this." Arthur chuckled, finding a gap in between the moving guards and hiding beside the boxes. "I need to set up the fireworks first, you see. Just wait for my signal and we can start the party."

He heard Bianca scoff at that, "Still as eccentric as ever." Oh he was, but he knew that she was smiling at least, so that was good enough for him.

"You love me for it." Arthur grinned, and heard her snort,

"Oh I love you, sure, but not for that." Bianca responded, and he sighed exasperatedly,

"You just never see the genius in my ways." Arthur muttered into the earpiece as he sneaked over to another row of crates and hid behind them. "Also, did you just confess your love to me?" He grinned at the silence. "Well, I love you too, Snow Angel."

"Yeah, of course you do." Bianca responded, though it sounded just a little forced, "… I'll talk to you when you start the signal. Focus on your infiltration for now, please."

"Not like this needs any bit of focus at all…" Arthur muttered as he heard the click on his earpiece.

Truthfully, infiltrating the White Fang, for all that they were full of Faunus who could see in the dark, was a rather easy task. Even when the leadership changed from Sienna to Adam, it was still an incredibly simple task.

Why?

Nobody expects a box.

Okay, well, not a box, more of a shipping crate really, but then again, the slits were small enough that it didn't matter. They wouldn't see him regardless.

Thing is, people are stupid. That's just how it is.

Arthur slowly moved as the crate towards new positions.

Well, until someone noticed how out of place he looked, that is.

"Huh?" The White Fang grunt muttered, scratching his head, "Where'd that crate come from?"

But Arthur expected this to happen. Which was why he moved as fast as he did.

Now he was in the middle of the base.

"Hey, Callie, where'd this crate come from?" The grunt shouted over to one of the other grunts, looking away for a moment.

That was all the time he needed.

* * *

Bianca saw a white flash of light from her position up in the roof and smiled. "That's the signal then."

All the other White Fang grunts outside looked towards the inside of the base and started to raise their guns and walk towards the inside of the base.

That is, they would have walked inside, had they not been restrained by Bianca's glyphs.

"Ah… I miss the freedom of having so much range." Bianca muttered to herself, and looked at the amount of grunts outside. There were sixteen. "Sixteen huh… Good enough, I suppose."

Bianca set up her glyphs all around the area and then placed one just in front of her.

She stepped on it, and the screams began.

Traversing over a hundred meters in a moment, she stopped just behind her first target and then hit the grunt with the back of her weapon, breaking their Aura and making them fall unconscious.

Much of the same happened for the others, and it was a rather simple affair for her to deal with all of the grunts outside.

When she got to the last one, she saw three people running out of the base and she sighed. With a gesture, a number of glyphs in front of them appeared, white glowing Beowolves coming out of them.

The grunts screamed and tried to shoot them but were surprised to find their weapons jammed.

"You know, you weren't exactly allowed to leave the party…" Bianca muttered, appearing behind them and making them scream in fear, but they were only able to turn their heads as their legs were held down in between black glyphs, making them unable to move. "I'll make this quick."

They fell unconscious.

"Well then. That was certainly quick." Arthur said from behind her and she raised her brow,

"We can't have other people raid our party after all." Bianca smiled, and looked around them, seeing all the unconscious White Fang grunts. "A fair warning, I suppose."

"Yeah, well, that should alert Cinder and the others to us soon." Arthur said, looking to the side for a moment, "Well, that, and a bunch of other people. A certain tribe in Mistral…"

Bianca looked at where he was looking and saw what he was staring at. "Ah… Quoth the Raven,"

"Nevermore." Someone scoffed behind them and they looked to see who it was.

"Ah, a pleasure to meet you, Qrow Branwen. Didn't really expect to meet you out in a place like this." Arthur said with a smile. "Especially not seeing both Branwen twins here at once."

"Oh, she's just here to watch." Qrow said, narrowing his eyes at both Arthur and Bianca, seeing the uniforms they were, which looked like specialist suits that had the Schnee and Arc symbol beside each. "Arc and Schnee… The hell is this, The Great War?"

Bianca laughed at that, "With what's coming up soon, it wouldn't be too surprising to consider that."

"Who the hell are you two?" Qrow narrowed his eyes at them, and the two of them just smiled.

"Arthur Arc—" Arthur started,

"—and Bianca Schnee—" Bianca continued,

"—the Schnee Dust Company's very own Dust Guard at your service." Arthur smiled, "At least, that's what they like to call us. Really we're basically their Specialists." He said with a shrug and Qrow raised a brow.

"Huh? Jacques starting to hire Huntsmen now?" Qrow asked, and Arthur shrugged.

"Not really. We're the only two people hired and I doubt there's going to be anyone else soon. We don't work full time anyways and we're more like glorified mercenaries so… yeah." Arthur smiled at Qrow who just scoffed.

"You two get anything good out of it?" Qrow asked,

"That's confidential." Bianca answered with a smile.

Suddenly they heard something coming from the air and they looked up to see a bullhead. More precisely, the SDC's bullhead that was only used by Jacques. That and another, larger aircraft following behind it.

Arthur smiled and looked back to Qrow, "Well, the boss has arrived it seems."

"And he brought the General in for the mix…" Qrow muttered, "Why the fuck are you two here anyways?"

Arthur and Bianca shrugged, before Arthur grinned. "Well, we're here to change the past of course." He chuckled, before turning to face where Raven was, only to find the said bird gone.

"Well. There she goes, I suppose." Arthur frowned, "Shame, she really could have benefitted from this."

"Oh please, we all know that ravens are known to be anti-social." Bianca scoffed, before sighing. "Although more seriously though, we were actually hoping that you would have arrived here, Qrow."

"Why's that?" Qrow narrowed his eyes at Bianca who just smiled wryly,

"We were going to ask how to apply as Professors at Beacon." Bianca said,

"Yeah, Professor Arc does have a nice ring to it." Arthur smiled, "Don't you think, Qrow?"

Qrow just frowned at them.

These guys can't be serious, right?

* * *

Arthur frowned as he looked down at the arenas below him.

Currently the Mistral Regional Tournament was happening and they happened to just be in time to watch the semi-finals. But… if he had to be honest with himself, he really wondered what Bianca ever found interesting about this whole event that she managed to watch it for four consecutive years.

"If you're wondering what I found entertaining about this whole tournament before was just how Pyrrha Nikos always defeated her opponents." Bianca said as she walked up beside him, "There's always something about watching the Invincible Girl live up to her name."

Arthur grimaced at that slightly, yeah, invincible indeed. He shook his head though, and continued to watch as Pyrrha Nikos battled against one of the members of what would eventually become team NDGO, Dew Gayl.

"Yeah, well, it's kind of predictable though with what we know of her Semblance though. Even withholding her actual fighting skills." Arthur sighed, shaking his head,

"Semblance?" Weiss, who was in between Bianca and Arthur, asked, looking up at Arthur, "What's Pyrrha's Semblance?"

Arthur just smiled down at Weiss, and Bianca grimaced slightly, rolling her eyes at the girl.

What she hadn't told Arthur was that she had already known Pyrrha's Semblance way before she went to Beacon. Which was why she was slightly annoyed by how her younger self, Weiss, seemed to crave Arthur's attention.

Not that she could do much about it though. It would raise too much suspicion.

Or would it?

"Well, Weiss, observe how Pyrrha fights." Arthur said, pointing down to the arena as Pyrrha was engaged in a sword fight with Dew, "Particularly, how she fights up close." Weiss blinked and did as Arthur said.

Pyrrha raised her shield slightly as she deflected Dew's spear, then she moved forward to attack Dew's guard and ducked down to avoid the spear that harmlessly passed above her head.

Pyrrha landed an attack forcing Dew back slightly. Dew grit her teeth and rushed forward again, thrusting her spear faster, which Pyrrha was able to block and deflect most attacks easily, then—

"Watch closely." Arthur said and Weiss narrowed her eyes, knowing that Pyrrha was about to use her Semblance due to what Arthur said, but even though she already knew what Pyrrha's semblance was—which was polarity—she was still surprised by what happened next.

Pyrrha put down her shield slightly and raised her hand to use her Semblance against the weapon to move it just slightly away from her face.

Weiss knew that Pyrrha had polarity, but… to see it very closely and to see just how she used it made her eyes widen.

"Polarity…" Weiss muttered,

"Exactly." Arthur smiled, not knowing that Weiss already knew it before, "You really are a smart girl." He chuckled, making Weiss blush and Bianca grit her teeth.

Bianca just sighed and shook her head, looking back down at the fight as it just ended. She looked to Weiss, then back to Pyrrha, then back to Weiss and raised her brow. She then looked to Arthur.

"Arthur, don't you think this is a good opportunity for Weiss?" Bianca asked, smiling as she thought of a plan.

"Hm?" Arthur said as both he and Weiss looked at her, "Oh, you mean that? Well…" He looked to the other people with them, Jacques and Winter, and smiled, "Well, that would depend on what they say."

"Well… I believe that it would be good for Weiss." Bianca said, smiling at Winter, "I don't believe Weiss has sparred with someone her own age yet."

Winter blinked. "I… Yes. I believe that would be a good idea." She then looked to her father and he shrugged.

"I suppose. The two of you would know what would be best after all. I will allow it." Jacques said, looking at Arthur.

Arthur then looked at Weiss, "Weiss, would you like to have a spar with Pyrrha Nikos?"

Weiss blinked, blushing slightly at the smile he was giving her. "I… yes. I would."

"Good." Arthur then looked to Winter, "Winter? If you will."

Winter nodded, "I shall make the preparations." She then walked out of their seats and went to go talk with Pyrrha's handler.

Arthur looked at Bianca with an amused smile, and she just smirked at him.

Oh her plan was coming along alright.

"And, as always, you find the best of opportunities." Arthur said to Bianca who just chuckled.

"Of course. It would be a shame to let this pass after all." Bianca said and Arthur chuckled, shaking his head.

Bianca's plan was laid out, all she had to do now was to wait and look for more opportunities.

This was the first step, she thought, and she had much more to go through before she can actually have the outcome she desires.

Her only problem now was, of course, Winter.


	8. Opportunistic Battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Very late, I know. But hey. At least I didn't give up on it like Chapter 7

It began in an instant.

Weiss dashed with Myrtenaster raised as Pyrrha held up her shield.

Stabbing even before it could be deflected, Weiss set up a number of glyphs around them at the same time, making Pyrrha narrow her eyes at her.

The glyphs provided an instance of speed and direction that most warriors didn't have, aiming at Pyrrha as best she could yet as fitting of the Myrmidon, every strike was blocked.

Weiss frowned at that, this was a lot like her spar against Arthur before, and although she knew that Pyrrha was much slower than Arthur, Pyrrha was still skilled enough in her own merit that she was able to deflect most of her attacks, which infuriated her slightly, but they wouldn't have had her spar against anyone had they known that she would be able to have an easy time against them.

Just as Bianca had taught her, Weiss formed glyphs above Pyrrha and pulled herself towards them to find better angles to attack.

But Pyrrha was still able to catch up, raising her shield above her in time to deflect her attacks with equal usage of shield and Semblance.

Weiss was getting tired, having used up enough Aura at this point, so she moved back and waited for Pyrrha to attack while she planned out her next move.

Pyrrha made her move and charged in, with Weiss just sidestepped to her left, slashing upwards with Myrtenaster. What Pyrrha didn't notice was how the blade was glowing red, sending flames towards her.

Her eyes went wide and she raised her shield up, gritting her teeth as it heated up and her Aura dip down slightly.

She could feel it, a shift in the air beside her and dashed backwards, narrowly avoiding a strike from Weiss, Myrtenaster's edge making contact with her arm.

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes. This was the first time in years since someone was able to strike at her with their blade even with her Semblance in years.

That meant only one thing to her.

This was a challenge.

And Pyrrha Nikos was not one to decline a challenge.

Pyrrha grinned and locked eyes with Weiss, who just narrowed her eyes at her.

Shifting Miló to its glaive form, she rushed forward with eyes focused on Weiss.

Once close enough in attacking range, Weiss suddenly jumped, but she was ready for it, placing her shield above her, feeling and hearing three strikes against her shield. She looked around her after a moment and narrowed her eyes as she didn't see Weiss anywhere. She blinked and dashed backward as suddenly Weiss dropped down to the ground her blade pointed downwards with a light blue hue.

Pyrrha frowned for a moment, before her eyes widened as she saw ice spread around from the point Weiss' rapier pierced the ground.

Jumping in time to avoid getting frozen to the ground turned her glaive into a javelin, the tip pointed to the ground and grabbing onto it as she landed, preventing her from slipping in the ice floor.

This was going to be a hard fight, Pyrrha thought, but only a smile appeared on her face.

This was the most fun she'd had in years.

* * *

Arthur had been watching the spar between Pyrrha and Weiss for a while now, and it seemed they still had a long way to go before any one of them wins. He knew who'd win in the end though, so he didn't really pay attention to the match as much.

He looked around the building and saw a bunch of people in the stands. Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary, some people were just there watching an interesting fight happening between the Schnee Heiress and Mistral's own Champion.

He saw a familiar face in the stands though, and narrowed his eyes. His hands were behind him, so he pressed a button on his scroll.

He looked back at the arena and saw Weiss and Pyrrha still fighting, he looked towards Bianca and placed a hand on her shoulder.

Bianca looked at him, and he gestured with his eyes and she blinked, before nodding, looking back to Weiss and Pyrrha fighting.

Arthur removed his hand from her shoulder and walked away from the outside of the arena, looking at Winter in the eye, who was staring at him, before making a gesture with his hand as he was walking. Two fingers, index and middle, then a sweeping gesture with it, downwards as his hand was still pointed down to the ground.

Winter narrowed her eyes and nodded.

Arthur kept walking and entered the entrance to the arena, then he walked up the stairs towards the stands.

He expected this to happen, really, but at this point it was just a bother. Now he had to clean up the mess.

Arthur arrived at the stands and walked up the stairs, going to the seats near the top.

Near where his target was.

He wasn't looking at his target straight, but he did notice the man look at him for a moment. The man didn't move, but when he looked away and didn't move, Arthur realized who he was dealing with.

And he smiled at that.

When he stopped on the row where the man was on, he sat down beside his target, and sighed.

"You know, you really shouldn't have sent the signal out twice." Arthur muttered, and saw that the man froze.

The man tried to get up, but Arthur's hand was already on his shoulder. Arthur stared at the man dead in the eyes with a frown.

"Alef, you really shouldn't have done that. Now Ironwood's right behind you." Arthur muttered, and the man looked behind him to see the Atlas General standing there.

Ironwood had a frown on his face, before he sighed. "I suppose that makes it the fourth time this place has had a breach in security." He muttered, shaking his head. "Now I really want to talk to Mistral's council members…"

* * *

Bianca frowned as she saw the Aura meters of both Weiss and Pyrrha. This was going to be the last moments of the match, and it seemed the winner was set already.

That was probably why Arthur leaved in the first place. Other than the fact that he saw another White Fang spy out near the vicinity of her family. Or what should be her family.

At this point, she didn't know, her and Arthur's existence were already an anomaly at this point, so she could only guess that this wasn't their home timeline anymore.

Either that or there was something keeping them from just not existing altogether.

She didn't want to think on that though.

Bianca stepped forward and snapped her fingers, just as both Pyrrha and Weiss threw out their final attacks.

"And that's enough for today." Bianca smiled, holding both Pyrrha and Weiss up with her glyphs, and stopping their final attacks short from potentially breaking their Aura. "You're both down to 10%, and, if my eyes didn't fool me, you've both just ended up in a tie."

Pyrrha and Weiss both collapsed onto the floor, which, as they landed, suddenly turned into water as Bianca struck Alphenlocken's glowing red tip to the ground.

"Excellent job, Weiss." Bianca smiled, "You've done much better than anyone could have expected for you to, even tying Mistral's own tournament champion."

Weiss took a deep breath as she righted herself, before smiling and bowing to Bianca. "Thank you, Bianca. I wouldn't have been able to do it without your training."

"And you're right. As for you, Pyrrha." Bianca turned to Pyrrha who just blinked as she had just picked up her weapons. "Well done. I hope that you continue to improve as you learn more in Beacon Academy."

Pyrrha held her mouth open, surprised that Bianca had even talked to her, much less that she knew that she was going to Beacon. But then again, she supposed, it wasn't like it was a secret thing either.

So she just settled for a smile and nod to Bianca who seemed pleased with it.

"Now, since both of you have done a wonderful performance. Would you like to take a break?" Bianca asked, and chuckled as both Pyrrha and Weiss nodded, "Good, then we're headed to the nearest restaurant."

* * *

Arthur looked at the scroll placed on their nightstand as the numbers slowly blinked.

_4:58 AM_

Sometimes he just wanted things to end, sometimes he just wanted to give up, honestly.

He didn't really know. But… if one were to ask him if they actually had a chance of winning at that time—with all the tactical intelligence he apparently has—then he'd only answer them with one thing.

No.

There was no chance in hell they'd have won.

No matter how many things changed.

No matter what kind of things they do to stop Cinder before The Fall of Beacon.

No matter what kind of things they'd do to save Amber.

Nothing.

Just… nothing.

Especially not with the resources and influence that everyone within Salem's circle, the Darkseers, have.

_4:59 AM_

He just…

He didn't know.

Why did he keep trying again?

He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment, then felt his companion beside him shift.

A smile appeared on his face, regardless of how fragile and vulnerable it was.

He smiled.

Right, of course.

Because of her.

It was always because of her, wasn't it?

Well, maybe not on the start, or the middle, or… whatever.

It wasn't until it began that he actually managed to see what he wanted to fight for.

He opened his eyes, and looked down at Bianca's sleeping face as she hugged his form.

He hummed for a moment, and chuckled when he saw her face shift into a smile.

He looked up to the scroll again.

_5:00 AM_

The alarm started.

Bianca grimaced and she hugged him tighter, burying her face into his chest.

"Five more minutes…" She muttered into his chest, sounding muffled.

"Bianca, we have to get up." Arthur said with a smile and she groaned hugging him even tighter.

"No…" Bianca mumbled, "You won't make me."

"Oh I will." He smiled. "Do you want to test that?"

"Arthur…" She started to dig her nails into his back. He continued smiling though.

"One…" Arthur smiled down at her,

"Grr…" She glared at him,

"Two…" He continued, wagging his brows momentarily.

"Urgh! Fine!" Bianca rolled her eyes and pushed him off the bed.

Arthur just laughed as he sat up, watching as she looked at the scroll on their nightstand and started to curse inappropriate expletives at it.

"You know that's not going to change anything right?" He pointed out and she directed her glare to him.

"I know but at least they'll know not to mess with me later on if we ever come back here." Bianca then looked back to the scroll, "You hear that? I know you're listening in, so if you want to keep your lives intact then  _don't_  put an alarm on us again."

Arthur didn't bother to correct her that he was the one who set the alarm.

Bianca knew that already after all.

Arthur stood up and looked around the room, stretching slightly. He yawned and looked back at Bianca who was silently watching him with a smile. He shook his head and chuckled.

He reached a hand out towards her and she smiled as she took it.

He slowly let out a breath, pulling her up.

"Come on." Arthur smiled, "Our flight's in an hour after all."

Bianca shook her head, "Always the punctual man."

Arthur shrugged, "I kind of have to be." She chuckled at that, "Come on, let's just get this over with."

He looked at the scroll one more time.

_5:05 AM_

How fitting.

* * *

_"This is our last day in Remnant. What do you want me to say to this damned world, Weiss?"_

_"Thank you. That's all I want you to say Jaune. Just… thank you."_

**_\- Jaune Arc speaking with Weiss Schnee before their final mission._ **


	9. Interlude 1 - Away From Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: A bit earlier than usual, but it's a short interlude so yeah. Have fun with it and all that.

 

Ironwood sighed as he put on his gloves.

It's been two months. Two months since those two appeared.

Ironwood wasn't one to know much of Aura Theory, but what he saw was undeniable, and their readers were never wrong.

Especially not when the results are consistent.

"General Ironwood, sir!" He looked behind him and saw Winter. He smiled and waved her off, making her stand straight. She smiled at him, which he supposed he should thank them for that. There weren't many people to make Winter change, but those two, Arthur in particular, managed to soften her up enough that she'd almost be amicable when talking to other people.

It was almost surreal to see it, really. But he supposed seeing her grow as Arthur and Bianca trainer her was a good thing. It was why he thought it was a shame that he was sending off those two away to Ozpin.

Then again, he wasn't one to change their minds.

"Winter." Ironwood nodded, "The preparations have been finished?"

"Yes sir. The meeting with the Mistral Council members have been arranged. Is there anywhere you would like to visit before going to the meeting?" Winter asked, and Ironwood frowned.

"Yes, perhaps we shall visit Haven's Headmaster for a bit." Ironwood said, making Winter frown.

"But, sir, Arthur has suggested not to do so…" Winter muttered, narrowing her eyes slightly and Ironwood chuckled. Perhaps she had been told by Arthur about how he was going to speak with Lionheart, and how it would be potentially catastrophic should Ironwood not do things right.

"Yes, I know. However, I just want to speak with Leo. Nothing more, Winter." Ironwood smiled, and Winter shook her head.

"I'm afraid I'll have to stop you, General Ironwood." Winter sighed, before looking Ironwood straight in the eye. "I have a few questions to ask you."

"What is it?" Ironwood furrowed his brows.

"Who are they really, Arthur Arc and Bianca Schnee? I could understand the blood, but what I don't understand being similar, is the Aura."

Ah…

* * *

In the end, Winter didn't get much of any answers from Ironwood, but she supposed it made sense. It was likely confidential information which would not easily be given to her.

Winter turned her face to the door that led to the Mistral Council Room as she heard people shouting inside.

She sighed and shook her head. She found it ironic, really, the Councilmen were supposed to be the symbol of the people in the government. Yet somehow they all just acted for their own gains.

Though she supposed that she was at least thankful that General Ironwood held basically two seats in the Atlas Council.

At least he was much better than most of the politicians who held power in Atlas.

Much more so compared to all the corrupt people in the Mistral Council.

It even made Vacuo look better than Mistral, which was a miracle, if she were to be honest.

Winter even thought that Menagerie was doing better than Mistral. But, that was something else.

Winter focused back to standing guard outside the door and saw white hair in the distance, making her blink as she saw Weiss walking towards her.

"Winter!" Weiss smiled and hugged Winter as she got close, "I just saw Arthur and Bianca off, why weren't you there?"

Winter chuckled and gave a sad smile, "Sorry, but I had some business to take care of with General Ironwood first." She said, "I am the only Specialist here after all."

Weiss frowned, but nodded, stepping back slightly. "So, when will you come back home?"

"Just after this meeting is finished. Are you not going back with father?" Winter asked, and Weiss smiled awkwardly, "Weiss?"

"I… I was planning to go with you and General Ironwood." Weiss smiled sheepishly and Winter rolled her eyes.

"Now what do you think Arthur would say to that behavior, Weiss?" Winter leaned down with a smile, making Weiss flinch and her eyes widen. "You know that father would be alone without anyone capable of protecting him. Much as most of us don't like him, I doubt Arthur or Bianca would just want to let him go alone without a Hunter right? What would happen if you suddenly inherit the SDC now?"

"A-ah! I'm sorry!" Weiss bowed. "I… I'll go back now." Weiss muttered dejectedly, and Winter just chuckled, shaking her head.

"Come here Weiss." Weiss looked up and saw that Winter was smiling, "You should go back to father, but just remember this…" She crouched down and put a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "Don't forget anything you've learned from me, Bianca or even Arthur. Okay?" Weiss frowned, but hardened her eyes and looked at her with determination. Weiss then nodded. "Good. Now go back to father before anything happens to ruin your dreams. I love you, Weiss." Winter said as she hugged Weiss one more time.

"I love you too, Winter." Weiss smiled as she hugged Winter back. "I'll do my best to start training as I arrive home."

"Don't push yourself." Winter said with a small smile, seeing Weiss go out of the hallway.

Weiss just nodded, and a frown appeared on Winter's face.

"It's not like you'd forget anything that Arthur would say to you…" Winter muttered, having noticed Weiss' rather… interesting development in how she acted around certain people.

Particularly, Arthur. But she couldn't really blame her, Arthur Arc was a very dependable, and strong person. Most of all, he was kind.

She paused, shaking her head and sighing.

She still had to wonder though, if what she's seen from the differences between Bianca and Weiss—for all that they shared almost the same Aura—were right, then she'd most likely meet Jaune Arc, the one who had a similar Aura to Arthur, and might not like him so much.

After all, Bianca was very much the opposite of Weiss. It wouldn't be surprising for Jaune to be the opposite of Arthur as well.

That did make her wonder however, if what little information the General had divulged to her were right, then Arthur and Bianca might be something unnatural.

And there was only one person she knew who started research that dealt with a lot of Aura.

Doctor Polendina.


	10. Sunshine and Rainbows

_"Jaune, do you ever miss your family?"_

_"All the time, Weiss. All the time."_

**_\- Weiss Schnee reminiscing with Jaune Arc, 1 year after the Fall of Beacon, 1 year before the Fall of Atlas_ **

* * *

Arthur and Bianca arrived at Vale with hardly any disturbance in their trip.

"Ah… home sweet home." Arthur muttered with a smile, "At least, what's supposed to be my home, I wouldn't know. What do you think Bianca?"

Bianca rolled her eyes with a smile, "I think this place feels much more like home already." She muttered as she saw what looked to be a family with children of various hair colors waving towards them. She, along with Arthur, waved back at them with a smile.

"Well," Arthur muttered to himself, "I guess I'd come back home eventually after all…" He said, and it was barely heard by Bianca, making her frown at him for a moment. "I've missed them."

Bianca's face softened and she put a hand on his shoulder. "Now you're back."

"I guess I am." Arthur smiled at her, "Let's go."

Bianca nodded and they both walked towards the Arc's.

"Wow, her hair is even whiter than mom's…" Carmine, the one with red hair, Bianca remembered, said. "It never looked that bright when we called through the scroll."

Bianca smiled, "Well, scrolls can't capture everything perfectly after all." She muttered before looking at all the girls. "Carmine, Tania, Jeanne, Olivia, Azure, Indigo, Violet, and… Mrs. Isabella Arc." All of them smiled and perked up at the mention of their names, with Isabella nodding at Bianca.

"Ah! She remembers us!" Tania, who had brown hair, squealed while shaking Jeanne, who had yellow hair, beside her. "Jeanne, come on! Weren't you excited to meet her?"

"A-ah? What? N-no—I mean—" Jeanne stuttered, panicking as she looked between Bianca, Carmine and Tania.

"Tania, please." Carmine, who had red hair, said as she put a hand on Tania's shoulder. "Let Jeanne approach as she wishes."

Bianca just chuckled before she looked at the male Arc's. "And of course, Jaune and Alexander Arc. A pleasure to meet all of you."

"Always with the introduction." Arthur chuckled, "Well, yeah, anyways, since you girls seem more excited to meet Bianca than me, I'll leave her to all of you for now."

"W-wait! That's not—" Jeanne started to speak but was interrupted by Arthur's hand ruffling her hair.

"I'm just kidding, Jeanne. Seriously though, have fun with her, you guys seem more fun than the Schnee's so let her have some fun. I have some stuff to talk with your dad and Jaune here." Arthur said, smiling down at Jeanne, who blinked and blushed slightly, before nodding. Arthur then removed his hand from her head and went towards Alexander and Jaune to talk with them.

Bianca stared at Arthur for a moment, before suddenly she was swarmed by the girls who started to ask her a lot of questions. Well, mostly Tania and Violet—the one with violet hair—but regardless, she smiled and entertained them for now.

Besides, it wasn't everyday she was able to spend time with a normal family for once.

Thinking about it, that's rather sad. But she didn't really care, at least she was here now.

She might as well get to know more about the Arc family, she supposed.

* * *

They arrived at the Arc Manor not too long after Arthur and Bianca met up with the Arc's.

Now, Arthur and Jaune were at the backyard, with Jaune doing some push-ups as Arthur watched him.

Arthur frowned while Jaune struggled with his exercise, but pushed through it with gritted teeth.

Arthur was crouched besides Jaune's struggling form, when he saw that Jaune was about to collapse, he used his Semblance over Jaune.

He used it again now, barely feeling anything as he sent Aura to Jaune, who had a lot of Aura himself.

Jaune glowed white again, and he took a deep breath, before continuing his training again. Arthur didn't like the fact that he did this, it was basically exploiting the fact that he could fix anything that gets broken really quickly. That, and the side effects.

But he knew that Jaune could take it unlike the others who had trained with him in this way before, particularly, people like Ruby and Nora. But he didn't need to remember that now.

"We have a long way to go Jaune." Arthur muttered, "Do you think you're up for this?"

"Y…yeah." Jaune grunted out, "I… didn't ask dad to unlock my Aura for nothing…" Jaune was sweating hard, he wasn't even wearing a shirt at this point just because of how soaked it usually gets as he does this kind of training. He pushed against the ground again, struggling against the weight behind his back, but he managed to push through before slowly going down and repeating the process again.

Arthur sighed, "We're on a time limit. The Beacon Entrance Exams have already begun and the cut-off point is a month from now. We're going to need to get you through some extremely intensive training just to get you ready for it." He paused for a moment, letting Jaune process his words. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Jaune grunted as he continued his push-ups. He wanted to do this. Well, no, at this point he had to do this. What use would his Aura be if he didn't go to Beacon and became a Hunter there?

All of it would have been useless.

A waste.

He was tired of that.

"You will face many challenges."

So what?

"You will bleed,"

And?

"You will feel what it's like to live right next to death,"

And? What did he care?

"You will lose,"

So? He's lost a lot of things already.

"You're… you're going to lose what you love."

That made Jaune pause. He turned and looked at Arthur's eyes and saw just how lost he was.

"Are you ready for that Jaune?"

He…

Jaune closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He couldn't imagine what it was like to lose his family.

But, he supposed it would have only been natural.

"I'm not going to lose what I love." Jaune muttered, continuing to push against the ground. "I'll use my strength for what is right."

"But what if you don't know what is right?" Arthur asked, and Jaune frowned, sighing.

"I… I guess I'll just hope to whatever being is out there to lead me to the right path."

"But what if that being doesn't hear you?"

Jaune paused, but this time he smiled, and chuckled. Even Arthur was confused. Why was Jaune chuckling?

"What are you talking about Arthur?" Jaune laughed, "If that being didn't hear me then why are you here right now?"

Arthur blinked, before understanding what Jaune just said. "I guess you're right." He muttered, smiling. "Then, Jaune, do you want to proceed with the next part of your training?" Arthur stood up, before removing the weights behind Jaune's back and offering an arm to him.

Jaune blinked and let himself be pulled up by Arthur. "Sure, what is it?"

"Get your armor. We're heading to the Emerald Forest." Arthur said, smiling.

Jaune just blinked, before nodding and getting his armor.

Arthur just watched Jaune get his armor for a moment, before muttering to himself, "How could I forget…?"

He forgot the one thing he asked for way back then.

He asked for a mentor to teach him.

He supposed that Pyrrha was his mentor before.

Now, he was the mentor to himself, Jaune.

Arthur just chuckled and shook his head.

Whatever being was up there, he just thanked it.

Though if he were to be honest, he really didn't understand whatever it is that being was planning. But he supposed he could go with it.

He was given one more chance after all.

He looked inside the house and his eyes met Bianca's.

They were given one more chance.

And it could be their last.

So they had to make it right this time.

He then looked as Jaune was now in his armor and had Crocea Mors by his hip.

Arthur nodded, before turning around and motioning for Jaune to follow him.

It was time for the second phase of training.

* * *

"So what was it like in your home?" Olivia, the green haired Arc, asked.

Bianca hummed and shrugged, "Home is a rather relative term, at least with how Arthur and I used to live. We travelled from place to place, not really much of anywhere to stay on for longer than days at a time."

Olivia blinked, and Tania asked next, "How was it like moving from place to place? I could only think that it wasn't really always all that pleasant."

"Oh no, it was far from that." Bianca chuckled, "Grimm everywhere, following us every now and then. It wasn't a very peaceful life as you could imagine, out of the borders of Atlas."

"Must have been cold…" Jeanne muttered, not meeting Bianca's eyes as she looked to the floor, Bianca smiled at her.

"It was." Bianca nodded, "But we lived how we had to live. Arthur, our friends, and I, we had one another. For a while at least, then it was down to just Arthur and I." Bianca said with a shrug. "Things don't always last, I suppose, and we had to move onto other places at some point."

The girls nodded, a more somber tone taking over the room.

"But that was then. Now Arthur and I are just looking to start anew and hope to share what we learned to those who need it. Better for the new generation to be prepared in facing the darkness than not." Bianca said, smiling at the women of the Arc Family.

"So the two of you are looking to become Professors at Beacon then? Why did you guys come here before going to Beacon?" Tania asked,

"I was interested in that as well, I would have expected the two of you to go to Beacon Academy first." Isabella asked, making Bianca look at her.

Bianca hummed at that, "Well, it's more because of a personal thing for Arthur." The others made a noise of understanding at that. "Yeah. Just as I had trained both my cousins, Winter and Weiss, Arthur wants to train Jaune as well since he wants to be a Hunter."

"Why Jaune? Isn't it too late for him to become a Hunter?" Surprisingly, Jeanne, of all people, asked. Her eyes were narrowed as she looked at Bianca, who understood just what it was Jeanne was feeling.

She was worried for her brother. And it wouldn't be unfounded either. Especially with how it would normally be too late for Jaune to try to be a Hunter now.

"Maybe." Bianca nodded, "But Arthur's the best at using a sword and shield as a weapon as far as I know. Jaune would learn a lot from him."

"But isn't it dangerous?" Jeanne asked,

"It is." Bianca agreed, "But just as Arthur and I have accepted the fact that we would be the best people to teach many hunters-in-training on surviving in many different situations. Jaune has accepted the fact that he'd become a Hunter and that he  _could_  die." Bianca closed her eyes before sighing, "Arthur and I have accepted that we were going to die out there beyond the borders. Even before we took up our weapons. Jaune himself, and so does my cousin, Weiss, understand that. They know what they're walking into." She looked straight at the blue eyes of Jeanne. "They have their own reasons, but Jaune wants to protect the things he loved, and to live up to the family name—"

"But we don't care about that!" Jeanne was on the verge of tears,

"—and he knows that." Bianca frowned. "I may not have met Jaune very well yet, but I can see much of the same things in him that I do in Arthur." Jeanne's tears started to fall, but she stayed silent and listened. "He knows what he wants to protect. That's you. He knows that he doesn't have to prove himself to any of you. Not even to his father or grandfather. But he needs to prove it to himself." Bianca sighed, "Jeanne, how would you feel if you felt that you were powerless to do anything, but you want to do something? Wouldn't you want to prove it to yourself that you can stop being powerless?"

Jeanne stayed silent, and looked down on the ground. She felt the comforting hands of her sisters on her back, but she didn't care about that.

Of course she knew what Jaune felt. He was her twin brother after all.

But… she also knew that just as she was fortunate to be skilled in many things that she wished to do, Jaune wasn't.

Sure, he was great at cooking, sewing, and many other things which one would consider rather feminine, but was he powerful?

More than a normal person, sure, but as a Hunter? No.

She knew that he was weak compared to everyone else.

Jaune was intelligent. At least as far as she can see.

But…

Jeanne sniffled, closing her eyes as she grit her teeth.

But he wanted to prove himself. Not for anyone else but for himself.

Who was she to judge?

She… she had everything she wanted.

But… she didn't want to lose him either.

Jaune was her beloved twin brother. She didn't know what she'd do if she were to lose him.

"I…" Jeanne gulped, taking a deep, shaky, breath, before looking up at Bianca who just looked at her with an understanding look. "I would." She would… "But. I don't want to lose him. I… I don't want to lose Jaune."

Bianca just chuckled, and kneeled in front of Jeanne, brushing her golden hair. "Jeanne, you won't lose Jaune." She smiled at Jeanne, who couldn't help but start to sob. "I may not be an Arc, but… just as I know Arthur would promise this to you, I promise to you that you won't lose Jaune."

Jeanne felt Bianca's arms around her and she started to sob even more, "I… I'm so sorry for…"

"Don't be." Bianca whispered. "I understand, Jeanne." Jeanne slowly put her arms around Bianca's form crying into her shoulder. "I promise to you. You won't lose Jaune. You have my word. And… a Schnee never leaves a debt owed."

Jeanne couldn't help but chuckle at that. "T-Thank you…"

"You should thank Arthur. Not me. I'm just his partner." Bianca muttered, caressing Jeanne's hair, calming her down. "He'll make sure that you won't ever have to lose Jaune."

Jeanne knew that she would lose Jaune eventually, but at least with what Bianca said to her, she won't have to lose him to death or the Grimm.

That was all she asked for.

And that was all she needed.


	11. Forest of Green

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, if you're interested in seeing early releases for the chapter, then you can go here: 'discord .gg/zhn7zr7' Just remove the space.
> 
> Beta: DeathDrayanD

 

Jaune was running.

He was panting as he ran inside the forest. Jumping and ducking over rocks, roots and branches.

He let out a cry as he swung his sword to clear out the vines that were in front of him. He was lucky that he was still running upright even through all the obstacles that he was going through.

Two days ago he'd have been in pain everywhere.

Three days ago he wouldn't even be able to run through the forest at full speed for more than two minutes at most.

A week ago he was just doing exercises at home.

Jaune didn't know how or why he improved so fast, but he wasn't complaining. He couldn't really complain even when Arthur just threw a pack of Beowolves at him so that he'd have a reason to run through the forest.

On top of the fact that the armor he was wearing was incredibly heavy.

He really didn't want to complain. He was far too scared of the consequences.

So he continued.

He pushed through, since he knew that Arthur would always be there if he would ever be in a situation that was too much for him.

Jaune's eyes narrowed as he saw a clearing up ahead.

Before he was even there, he checked the clearing from what he saw.

A tall mountain to the front, a cave to the left and more trees to the right.

Good enough for him.

Jaune stopped by the clearing and turned around, taking out his sheath and transforming it into a shield.

He took a deep breath.

And he waited.

Raising his shield in front of him and readying his blade by his side, he planted his foot firmly on the ground to prepare for the onslaught of Grimm.

Then he saw them.

Black fur, red glowing eyes, sharp fangs, and long claws. A week ago, he'd have been scared frozen by fear from facing them.

Now, Jaune just felt the calm sense of fear that he channeled into adrenaline so that he could survive.

Beowolves.

Arthur had taught Jaune that Beowolves usually travel in packs of four to thirty or more.

What Jaune was facing now wasn't nearly as ludicrous as thirty Beowolves all at once, but only twelve of them running towards him.

Jaune chuckled for a moment, he didn't have the high ground, but he could still win.

He wouldn't be able to enter Beacon otherwise.

Jaune's face shifted into one of concentration.

The first Beowolf—the closest to him—raised its clawed arm, aiming to attack Jaune behind the shield, but when it got into his range, he immediately bashed it away with a shield, following up with a slash that cut through the Beowolf's neck like butter.

Jaune didn't stop there however—even as two Beowolves came up to him next—and he spun in place decapitating the Beowolf to his left and severing the left arm of the other one.

The other Beowolf yowled and he focused on it, planting his foot on the ground, dispersing his momentum, and stabbing its chest with his blade.

There was a small howl and he saw the remaining nine Beowolves run slow down to a stop before circling him.

Jaune just carefully watched them and looked for any openings for him to attack.

He found none, until a Beowolf—one that must have been the Alpha Beowolf, since he did remember glancing upon one Beowolf that looked just a bit older than the others—howled.

All at once, the Beowolves jumped on him.

Jaune smirked.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath—

Then he spun.

In a flash, Jaune was able to cut down most of the Beowolves around him.

Most.

Jaune gasped as he felt a small cut in the back of his neck, before getting quickly healed by his Aura.

He ducked down low and heard a thump beside him as the Alpha Beowolf landed.

Jaune turned slightly to look at the Alpha Beowolf and immediately rolled to the side as it lunged towards him. Knowing that it was going to immediately pounce on him again, he raised his shield and managed to block a claw.

He grit his teeth. The Alpha Beowolf was much stronger than the normal Beowolves. Jaune knew that, but he didn't expect it to be by this much. He could barely keep up.

As Jaune saw that the other claw was about to attack his side so he pushed hard with his shield, and stepped forward to plunge his sword into the Beowolf's chest.

Then it fell down.

As it started to dissipate, Jaune heaved out a breath he didn't know he was holding in.

That was a lot quicker than he expected, but he survived.

It was a close call though, because had he not ducked low enough in his sweeping strike, he likely wouldn't be alive now.

He looked around the clearing for a moment, before looking up at the setting sun above the sky.

Jaune panted for a moment before letting out a relieved breath.

"Arthur! Where are you? It's almost night time!" Jaune yelled out as he walked back towards the forest. When he didn't hear a response, he frowned.

Arthur did tell him that if he didn't reply, then Jaune should just try to find a place to rest in for the moment, especially when it's almost night time. He wouldn't want to get caught dead in the outside with Grimm coming towards him as he sleeps.

Well, they usually slept outside here in the Emerald Forest, when they weren't able to find a cave or something to hole up in, but they usually take turns sleeping so that they don't get ambushed by Grimm in their sleep.

Overall, it's just much better to have some place to sleep in that can at least hide you from the Grimm's sight.

"Welp, guess it's time to explore…" Jaune muttered to himself, sheathing Crocea Mors and moving to gather some materials to last himself the night.

He'd have hunted for some game, but he felt full enough already that he'd be fine without food for the night.

After Jaune got a bunch of branches, sticks, leaves and some rocks. He smiled and made a torch for himself to start exploring the cave while bringing a bunch of his materials inside.

As he went inside the cave to start exploring, he took care to be cautious as he remembered what Arthur told him about caves. At best, he'd just get a bunch of Creeps inside.

At worst he'd meet a Deathstalker.

So, it was best to stay cautious, especially in night time.

Slowly, he went through the cave, taking care to not trip or make too much sound in the place.

Jaune didn't really have to go too deep to find a place to rest, so once he found a good spot he placed down his materials silently, but it was still best to explore the deeper area of the cave, or at least make some sort of cover there so they don't get attacked from inside the cave as well.

But he didn't exactly have the biggest of rocks to block a hole that big, so he decided that exploration was the only way to go.

Jaune's light footsteps against the bare ground was the only sound in the cave.

Suddenly, he heard a rumble throughout the cave.

Jaune paused in his walking, frowning as he looked around for what made the noise.

Jaune saw a large object that was glowing yellow. It looked almost bulbous…

"Wait, why is it—oh." Jaune muttered to himself and stepped back slowly, hoping that it didn't notice him yet.

Red glowing eyes appeared and he cursed.

Deathstalker.

It saw him already, so he did the one thing he could.

Turn back and run away as fast as he can.

There was  _no_ way in hell he could take that alone.

Jaune dropped his torch by the branches and sticks he's placed down lately. He knew that it wouldn't do much, but he hoped that it would slow down the Deathstalker enough that he'd be able to get out of this situation alive.

Arthur wasn't here, at least not at this moment, so he only had himself to rely on.

"Fuck!" Jaune cursed again, gritting his teeth as he suddenly glowed white, and ran faster, getting out of the cave in time before it suddenly collapsed behind him.

When he reached the outside, Jaune saw that there were a number of Grimm running towards him, that being, a  _lot_  of Creeps.

Jaune glared at them, unsheathing Crocea Mors as he glowed white again, blinding them all.

He wouldn't survive them now, he knew it, not without a miracle.

He hated it.

He hated it, really. He didn't even get to go to Beacon yet and now he's going to die.

How pathetic is that?

So Jaune made his last stand, and killed as many Grimm as he could.

He didn't care when they were able to bite down his arm, when his clothes were being ripped to shreds, when his armor was being bent down.

He didn't care.

Jaune screamed and slashed, killing everything within Crocea Mors' reach.

Miraculously enough, the remaining Creeps he hadn't slain... ran away. Just like that. Away from the boy who had just murdered most of their kin.

Jaune knew they would come back, but he didn't care. He was too tired to even care.

Then the ground shook, and he looked behind him, raising his shield immediately as a large rock flew towards him, throwing him back to a tree.

His Aura flashed and he knew now.

This was his last stand.

Jaune struggled to get up as he pushed the rock away.

His arm was broken, one of his ribs was probably broken as well, but he didn't care.

The least he could do now is to not die without standing up against the Deathstalker.

So he got up as the Deathstalker screeched.

For some reason, that didn't even faze him anymore.

Jaune just looked it in the eye.

The golden stinger flew down towards him.

Jaune couldn't even raise his shield anymore with how broken his left arm was.

So he closed his eyes.

Only to feel nothing.

"Wow, you Arcs really are dramatic." Wait… is that...?

Jaune opened his eyes and met the light blue eyes of Bianca.

She had a smile on her face as she stood in front of Jaune, a white giant knight appearing behind her, blocking the Deathstalker's stinger.

"A-Angel…?" Jaune muttered before his eyes widened as he realized what he just said. "I-I mean—!"

Bianca just smirked, "Your Snow Angel here, at your service." She said with a bow, before looking back to the summoned Arma Gigas behind her. "Well, that and my trusty White Knight."

The Arma Gigas which Bianca summoned hefted its large blade up before cleaving the Deathstalker in half, making it dissipate.

The Arma Gigas then went down on its knees towards Bianca and Jaune.

Bianca smiled and nodded at it, before it dissipated too.

Jaune just stared at her, mouth agape at the events he'd just witnessed. Bianca just looked around the clearing for a moment before frowning.

"Now if only my Arcangel is here…" Bianca muttered, before she shook her head and faced Jaune. "Oh well. I guess we haven't met properly before."

Jaune blinked as Bianca offered him a hand. He stared at it for a moment before looking up at her.

"Come on, Jaune. I'm Bianca Schnee, your Snow Angel. Would you like to go home?" Bianca had a smile on her face, one which Jaune could only describe as an angelic smile, with how her snow white hair was free in the wind.

Jaune moved to shake her hand, but grimaced as he remembered how painful moving was at this point.

Bianca frowned at that and moved to support him, carrying Jaune in her arms. "Well, I hope you don't mind being carried by me." She muttered as she carefully moved him to make him comfortable in her arms. "Do you?"

Jaune opened his mouth to answer, but then he realized what he just said lately, so he closed it and shook his head. He didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Bianca anymore than he has.

Bianca nodded, "Make yourself comfortable then. It'll be a long trip back home."

Jaune nodded, and he realized just how tired he was, but he didn't want to fall asleep in her arms, that would be rude—

But he couldn't do anything about it as she adjusted him to be more comfortable in her arms.

He was just… so tired today.

So… tired…

* * *

Bianca landed near the outskirts of the Emerald Forest, the docking area for the airships where she saw Arthur standing beside a Bullhead.

Arthur just glanced at Jaune and nodded, taking him from Bianca's arms and carrying him to the inside of the Bullhead, Bianca following behind him.

"Guess you've found him." Arthur muttered, glowing white for a moment and healing Jaune. Jaune mumbled something before moving his arms around Arthur's neck, snuggling against the older man. Arthur didn't really care, already being used to it.

"Where were you anyways? Any longer there and I might have not been able to save him." Bianca asked, frowning as she sat down on the seats at the front.

Arthur sat beside Bianca and adjusted Jaune to make him rest better.

"I was just running some errands." Arthur said with a frown. "Sorry I couldn't message you any earlier." He sighed, "A certain black cat kept me busy."

"A certain black cat huh…" Bianca scoffed. "She won't be amused."

"Neither am I." Arthur shook his head. "But this world's path is diverging, she nearly didn't leave the Fang."

"How did you convince her?" Bianca asked,

"I didn't." She raised a brow at that. "Ozpin—more like her parents—did."

"Huh." Bianca blinked, "Do tell."

Arthur shook his head again. "This is going to be a long one…"


	12. Entrance Exam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, if you're interested in seeing early releases for the chapters, then you can go here: 'discord .gg/zhn7zr7' Just remove the space.
> 
> Beta: DeathDrayanD

 

Jaune took a deep breath as he stepped onto the arena.

"Remember, standard tournament rules. First to reach 15% of their Aura, loses." Their test instructor, Glynda Goodwitch, said to Jaune and his opponent, a man named Dove Bronzewing.

Both Jaune and Dove took their places across each other in the arena. This was the entrance exam. As if Jaune didn't need any more proof that forging his transcripts in was a bad idea, this happened.

Actually, he was kind of afraid of what would have happened had he sent in those transcripts now. It was going to be  _painfully obvious_  how inaccurate it was that he was pretty damn sure that he'd get expelled out of Beacon almost immediately.

Thank the gods for Arthur.

"Are you both ready?" Glynda asked from outside the arena and both Jaune and Dove nodded. "Good. You may begin."

Jaune raised his shield and waited for Dove to rush towards him.

What Jaune had figured out from the matches he had watched Dove in before was that he always liked to rush in first. And so far, this one was no different.

Dove rushed in with his sword at the front, the barrel of the gun, which was at the hilt, was aimed towards Jaune.

Jaune raised his shield and blocked the bullets that were being shot at him, along with the blade that made contact with his shield not too long afterwards.

Jaune stared into Dove's narrowed eyes and pushed the blade away, just in time to throw a bullet that could have been mutually destructive for both of them—one infused with a lot of fire dust—upwards, making it explode above them.

As Dove reoriented himself, Jaune attacked, flashing white as he infused himself with a portion of his own Aura, strengthening his attacks, and he slashed at Dove's unprotected stomach.

Dove grunted and stumbled backwards, holding his blade with both his hands now and stepping backwards, staying cautious against Jaune.

Jaune corrected his footing again and smirked at Dove, before making his Aura flash brightly for a moment. Jaune felt his muscles strengthen slightly and let out a small breath, his Aura flashed brightly again, and he felt time slow for him slightly.

Jaune ran towards Dove and began his barrage of attacks.

Dove tried to keep up, but at this point, it was either Jaune was too strong, or he was too fast.

Actually—now that Dove thought about it—maybe both.

Jaune was a blur around Dove, and it didn't really take all that long to determine the winner at that point.

Jaune looked at the Aura bars at the top and gauged just how long it would take for him to take Dove out.

Unsurprisingly, it didn't take very long.

Dove fell to the floor and raised his sword to protect himself in vain.

"Dove Bronzewing's Aura has reached 15%, the winner is Jaune Arc." Jaune let out a sigh of relief as he heard Glynda confirm his win.

He sheathed Crocea Mors and reached out a hand for Dove to take, Dove looked at it for a moment, and Jaune raised a brow.

"Come on. You don't want to get up?" Jaune asked, and Dove just stared at him, before taking the offered hand.

"Thanks…" Dove muttered as he put his own blade to the side. "Uh… good match?"

Jaune smiled, "Yeah man. That was fun. Hope you do well in your next match."

Dove just stared at Jaune again, before shaking his head. "Yeah sure. Thanks dude."

Dove nodded before walking away the way he came from. Jaune walked out of the arena as well.

"Next match… Cardin Winchester and Sky Lark." Glynda voiced out as Jaune walked down the stairs.

Jaune passed by Cardin who just bumped his shoulder into him. Jaune didn't really get affected by it much and just raised a brow at Cardin, whose smirk turned into a scowl.

Jaune just blinked before shaking his head and walking back to the bleachers to watch the next fight to happen.

He saw a familiar black bow on top of black hair, and he smiled and sat besides the said person.

"Hey, Blake." Jaune smiled, and Blake glanced at him for a moment before giving her own brief smile and nod. "How'd I do?"

"Good enough." Blake replied as Jaune sat down beside her.

"Just that?" Jaune asked, "Really, no comment on how cool I was?"

Blake scoffed, "As if." She muttered, "If you talk anymore like that I might not go easy on you."

"Who said I wanted you to go easy on me, Blake?" Jaune smiled and leaned back as he watched the current fight unfold. "In fact, it would be an insult to me if you were to go easy on me."

"Okay. I'll crush you then." Blake said, crossing her arms as she also watched the current fight take place. "I'm going to win against you so hard it'll crush your ego."

"Okay, damn, that actually sounds scary." Jaune shivered, before looking at Blake, "Seriously though, how did I do?"

"Good enough, like I said." Blake replied, focusing on the fight in front of them. "Though you'd probably do much better if you were to utilize your Semblance much less."

"That's true…" Jaune muttered, looking back to the fight before them. "I don't like to waste my time and Aura too much though."

Blake hummed, "You can still dodge and block easily even without your speed amplification."

"I just didn't want to waste too much time on the fight." Jaune shrugged.

"Any particular reason for it?" Blake asked, though Jaune felt like she didn't really care all that much but just wanted to make small talk while she was here.

"Well actually—"

"That's because Jaune here is pretty hungry." Arthur said from behind them and Jaune jumped. Blake nearly did too, but she just settled for a glare at Arthur. He just glanced at Blake for a moment before looking back to Jaune. "Ain't that right Jaune?"

Jaune just looked at Arthur for a moment and opened his mouth.

His stomach answered for him however and he blushed.

"See?" Arthur pointed to Jaune, who just looked away from both him and Blake. "Come on, let's go eat. It's pretty clear that the brute will win already so we might as well eat."

Blake frowned at Arthur before looking to Jaune, waiting for him to answer for her.

Truthfully, she was actually pretty hungry as well, and Arthur always ordered the best kinds of tuna for her, so she wasn't against his offer. But she was a bit mindful of Jaune, however.

That, and how Arthur seemed to know her quite well for someone who just met her a few days ago.

Jaune looked at their stares before sighing and scratching the back of his head. "… Yeah. Sure. Where are you taking us, though?"

Arthur just smiled, "Blake's favorite food stop of course."

Blake narrowed her eyes at Arthur and Jaune chuckled, shaking his head.

Sometimes, Jaune wondered where Arthur finds all these kinds of people, but he didn't mind.

At least now he wasn't going to Beacon alone. He felt that was the same with Blake as well, which was good.

So they went to A Simple Wok.

* * *

Jaune's eyes widened as he ate the food in his bowl. "By the gods this is so good!" He said, mouth muffled by the food he was eating. "Arthur why haven't you told me about this before?!"

Blake would usually have been averse to the way that Jaune was eating right now and would have likely reprimanded him, but she was too busy eating her own food to care. The foods by the gods themselves, a perfectly cooked tuna. She didn't care how much it cost, Arthur said that he was paying for them, and she was pretty damn sure with his profession he was being paid millions so she didn't care.

Arthur just chuckled at the two of them as he ate his own food. "That's because you never asked. We were also pretty damn busy trying to stay alive in the Emerald Forest."

"Still! This is so good! Where was this in my whole life?!" Jaune continued to speak with his mouth full, and somehow he was able to keep his side of the table clear.

Arthur just shook his head with a smile before turning to face the owner who had an almost sinister smile on his face. Arthur rolled his eyes and motioned for the old man to come towards him.

The owner looked confused before putting on a smile as he approached Arthur.

"I'll order three more bowls of this, along with two more bowls of tuna for Blake here. Large, of course. Here." Arthur gave his Schnee-issued card to the old man who just nodded and went to use the card before giving it back to Arthur and getting back to work. "I have a feeling this guy's going to have to expand some time soon…"

Arthur turned and saw Jaune still taking huge portions off of his bowl and shook his head.

"Jaune, you have to slow down. You might choke on your food." Arthur reminded Jaune who just continued eating furiously, as if he didn't even hear what Arthur said at all.

Arthur just sighed. Before he turned to the side and saw Bianca walking towards them. He smiled and waved at her, who smiled and nodded in turn.

Bianca sat down by Arthur and smiled at Jaune, who was still busy stuffing his mouth with food. "So, Jaune, how was your fight lately?"

Jaune finally noticed that Bianca arrived as he looked up with wide eyes, and as he moved to answer he started to choke on his food.

Blake noticed it and moved to help him, but Bianca was faster. And Blake was the closest to Jaune.

Bianca quickly helped Jaune out of his dilemma and rubbed his back to comfort him. "Are you okay, Jaune?"

Jaune coughed out the food he choked on onto the bowl and grimaced as he realized what he'd just done.

"Jaune?" Bianca asked, moving closer to Jaune, her hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay?"

Blushing, he gulped, "Y-Yes…" He muttered averting his gaze, "I-I'm sorry…"

Bianca frowned as she saw Jaune look away. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to surprise you." She sighed, only making Jaune feel even worse. "Regardless, how was your fight lately?"

"U-uh…" Jaune tried to keep his gaze on Bianca, but with how she looked so beautiful with her hair down and her smile, he didn't know if he could look at her without freezing up with how she looked or burning up due to the heat on his face. "I…"

Luckily for him, Blake answered in his stead, noticing how uncomfortable Jaune looked as he spoke with Bianca.

"Jaune's fight went rather well." Blake said, and Bianca looked towards her with a raised brow and a smile. "He won. Though he did seem to rely a lot on his Semblance, at least from what I noticed."

Bianca nodded and hummed, "I suppose it would only make sense." She muttered as she looked at Jaune. "You did remember what I taught you from our training right?"

Jaune blinked and looked at Bianca again before nodding. "Y-yeah… Though in Dove's case lately, it wasn't really all that necessary."

"That's good." Bianca hummed, before looking at Arthur. "I've finished the paperworks and the preparations. What's next?"

"Nothing much, really." Arthur shrugged. "Jaune and Blake are actually already enrolled so what should have been their fight against each other has been cancelled." He said, before looking over the horizon where Beacon was located. "I suppose all we can do now is wait until classes start."

"That's about three days from now." Bianca frowned, "What will we do for now then? We've already applied as professors, and they're already enrolled as students, there's not much left for us to do other than wait."

"Well, we can always accept that mission Jacques asked us to do." Arthur shrugged.

Bianca raised a brow at that. "That mission?" She looked at both Jaune and Blake who were looking at them with confused looks. "I mean, they can participate in it, but are you sure about that?"

"Yeah. What do you two think, are you up for a mission?" Arthur asked both Jaune and Blake.

Jaune and Blake just looked at each other and blinked.


	13. Mission One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, if you're interested in seeing early releases for the chapters, then you can go here: 'discord .gg/zhn7zr7' Just remove the space.
> 
> Beta(s): Amphion, DeathDrayanD

Jaune sighed as he looked outside the store's window once again.

"I just don't get how you're so calm about this Blake. Like… you're so calm and collected while we're on this mission it's insane!" Jaune raised his hands in the air before sighing and shaking his head, looking at Blake.

Blake rolled her eyes, "It's a simple mission, and it doesn't look like anyone's going to start raiding this store anytime soon."

"But it's nearing closing hours! It's like the  _perfect_  time for them to strike." Jaune argued, eyes flicking towards the window again.

"Just shut up and act like a busy customer." Blake muttered, walking away to the side to look at the Dust crystals and weapon ammo.

Jaune just sighed and did as she said, walking over to the magazine aisle and looking for something to read in the mean time.

He hummed to ease his nervousness, this was his first mission after all. He  _really_  didn't want to mess it up. Right now he was just following Blake's lead since Arthur told him that she's gone on missions before, though he didn't really explain how or why he knew that.

Huh. Yeah, he never did, did he?

… He'd have to ask him at some point. Right now however, he was just looking for something to calm himself down and ease his nervousness. He thought the best place to do so would have been in the magazine aisle which… unfortunately to him, only had Dust or Huntsman related things—which, while he wasn't averse to learning more about them, he wasn't exactly thrilled at the fact that it was all he could find in this place.

"Man I wish they had X-Ray and Vav here…" Jaune muttered to himself, shaking his head. "Well, guess I can't complain. I do need to learn more about the current Huntsman related stuff at some point…" He then raised his brow as he saw a weapons magazine and smiled. "Bianca did tell me that I'm going to have my weapon reforged soon after all…"

As Jaune's hand moved to pick up the said magazine, another pair of hands, one much smaller than his, moved to pick it up as well, and they both ended up holding each other's hands along with the magazine in question.

Jaune's eyes widened and he blushed at how soft and cool the hand felt, turning his head to face the other person.

His cobalt eyes met those of silver.

They both retrieved their hands immediately and averted their gaze.

"U-uh, I'm sorry!" Both of them said at the same time, before Jaune looked at the girl again who still had her gaze away from him.

He then noticed that she had large headphones on, so, hesitantly, he tapped her shoulder, making her jump for a moment, looking at him with wide eyes.

Jaune smiled apologetically and pointed to his ears. The girl understood the message and removed her earphones, looking down at the ground while scratching the back of her hood.

"Ah… s-sorry." The girl muttered with a chuckle, "I-I didn't mean it—like, it felt so nice but—I mean—!"

Jaune chuckled, scratching the back of his head before smiling at her. Seeing her look at him. "I get it, yeah. Sorry about that, I guess you can have it first if you want…"

"N-no! It's okay! I… I can wait if you'd like, it's fine with me." The girl said, shaking her head at him with an awkward smile.

Jaune frowned, "No, but…" He sighed, shaking his head, "Okay, we're not going to get anywhere with this, so we might as well share the magazine. Besides, I might need some help understanding the things in this book, I'm, uh, rather unfamiliar with a lot of Huntsman-related stuff." He chuckled, "Sorry, it's fine if you don't—"

"No! I mean—urgh, yes, it's fine with me. It's just… aren't we supposed to introduce each other first?"

Jaune blinked, "Oh yeah! Sorry about that." He chuckled, reaching a hand out to her with a grin. "My name's Jaune. Jaune Arc"

"Mine's Ruby. Ruby Rose." Ruby said, shaking his hand. "So you said you're unfamiliar with Huntsman-related stuff? You look like a pretty decent Huntsman-in-training to me."

"Well, I'm flattered, but no, not really. I only got my Aura unlocked just a few months ago so… I'm not really all that exceptional." Jaune shrugged,

"Just a few months ago and you got accepted into Beacon?! How?! It took me years to unlock my Semblance alone, much less get used to Aura!" Ruby asked, looking surprised,

Jaune laughed, scratching the back of his head, "Well, I had my cousin to help me with that so I—"

Suddenly Jaune's eyes narrowed and his body glowed blue before he went behind Ruby and unsheathed Crocea Mors, blocking an attack with his shield.

Jaune looked at the perpetrator of the attack and saw… a lot of odd things.

It was a girl. Definitely, but what stuck out to him the most, other than the odd hair color, was how her eyes had two different colors.

One was brown, and the other was pink.

* * *

"Looks like they've met opposition." Bianca muttered as she looked at her scroll, before looking through the scope of the sniper rifle again. "Think you can make it quick?" She asked Arthur through her helmet and he replied with a small sigh.

"You think?" He muttered from inside the compound. "I'm still trying to confirm if I'm in the right compound and you're asking me  _that_  question?"

"To be fair, it's not like either of us have many other compounds left to check other than this." Bianca replied, looking at the heat signatures through her rifle.

She was in a nearby apartment from the docks in the industrial area. She was far enough away from the compounds to not be seen, and she was fairly sure that nobody was going to notice her anytime soon.

The reason was simple.

It was because they've used the apartment for a month now, and haven't really done much of anything in it.

Watching Arthur's form through the rifle, she noticed two other heat signatures walking towards him.

"Two coming from your six, watch out."

"Just great… these guys again? I swear I've been playing hide and seek from them for an hour now…" Arthur groaned, making her glad that they got both her and him suits which remove noise from both them and around them. He was a talkative man, after all. "Go non-lethal, he said, it will prove us much better than them, he said…"

"Arthur…" Bianca hissed, and he just shook his head before hiding himself from them again. "And we can't go lethal either. They'll start noticing. You know this already."

"Yeah, I know." Arthur sighed, "It's just so annoying though… I could have been done with this hours ago had we—" suddenly he cut off, and she tensed, watching as he suddenly stopped moving before the two other heat signatures, ones that indicated the White Fang grunts, turned to face him and pointed at him, presumably pulling out their guns. "Jammer, now!"

Before Arthur had even said those words, Bianca had already placed down and activated the ECM Jammer. "Way ahead of you…" She muttered, before holstering the rifle to her back and jumping out of the window, placing small glyphs which propelled her towards where Arthur was.

"This is not going to be non-lethal…" Arthur pointed out.

"Well, we'll try to limit the casualties on our part." Bianca said, before frowning, "Although I'm really worried for how Jaune and Blake will fare in this one…"

"Worry about that later, right now we have a whole army to deal with." Arthur said through the helmet. "Take the back part, don't let anyone out."

"Of course."

Bianca unsheathed Alphenlocken and sped up even further.

* * *

Jaune grit his teeth as he used his shield to block the shot from Roman's cane.

There was only one thing on his mind as he did his best to stay upright and endure the pain that was searing through his arm right now.

Where were Arthur and Bianca?

This was pretty much one of the worst case scenarios he had been expecting to happen before, and it was rather annoying how it had to happen now of all times. They were almost done with their mission.

Literally one hour away from just finishing the mission, but no, Roman Torchwick and his goons had to come in, along with whoever that ice cream looking girl was, Neapolitan or something. He didn't know.

But right now he was just doing his best to make sure that nothing else bad happened to the store.

They'd failed the mission already, most of the Dust had been stolen.

But it didn't mean there was nothing left inside there, there was still enough that Jaune was sure that one shot could set off a large explosion enough to wipe out the whole building and everything surrounding it.

He had to make sure that didn't happen.

Even if it meant depleting his Aura and putting himself in danger.

"Jaune!" He heard Ruby shout from behind him and he gasped as suddenly the heat finally disappeared, "Are you okay?!"

He let out a breath before he nearly collapsed, falling to one knee and having to balance himself with his sword. "Y-Yeah…" He muttered, "My Aura, however…"

"I know." Ruby said, moving beside him and helping him up, "Should I…?"

"No, don't follow them." Blake grunted from the inside where the store owner was bandaging her up, "You're not going to achieve much if you do."

Jaune just looked at Blake and hung his head, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Jaune looked up as he heard a voice from behind him. It was Arthur, and he had a smile on his face as he put a hand on Jaune's shoulder, both of them glowing white for a moment. "What you've done here, is bought us enough time that we were able to finish our main mission." Arthur chuckled at him as he patted Jaune's shoulder. "Do you remember what I told you before? When we fought the group of Ursai?"

Jaune blinked, remembering that time. "Ah… right. What we may lose in the battle now, may be gained in the battles later on. I think there was a word for it… it was the opposite of Pyrrhic Victory or something?"

Bianca smiled as she walked to stand beside Arthur, crossing her arms. "A Laevinic defeat."

* * *

_"What point is there to us going back to the past when we're going to lose everything we have anyways?"_

_"Are you sure about that? The Magic that the Wizard has brought to us speaks otherwise…"_

**_\- Jaune Arc speaking with Weiss Schnee, 2 months after the Fall of Atlas_ **

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: April 17 7AM CT
> 
> So, yeah. I'll be moving onto a weekly schedule for now mostly due to how I want to work on more than one story every week. If you're interested in reading some of my other stuff, you can always check out my profile.
> 
> Just know that the next story to be updated will be Just One Date, which is basically another White Knight story more focused on the romance/drama and stuff between characters.
> 
> Update Schedule starting next week should be:
> 
> 7* AM CT Sunday: AMAZONZ (Dark Sci-Fi AU)
> 
> 7* AM CT Tuesday: One More Chance (Time Travel AU Jaune x Weiss)
> 
> 7* AM CT Thursday: Of Knights and Maidens (Slight AU Jaune x Amber)
> 
> 7* AM CT Saturday: Just One Date (Slice of Life Canon Divergence Jaune x Weiss)
> 
> *Note: Can vary from 7 to 12 due to possible delays.


	14. Interlude 2 - The Wizard of the Clock Tower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, if you're interested in seeing early releases for the chapters, then you can go here: 'discord .gg/zhn7zr7' Just remove the space.
> 
> Beta(s): Amphion, DeathDrayanD

 

 

Ozpin stood by the window of his office and sipped his coffee.

Jaune Arc and Weiss Schnee.

Those were names he'd never have thought to have much significance any more than one would for Lie Ren or Nora Valkyrie.

Ignoring their prominent family names and their status both historically and in present, those were two names you'd never expect to work together, especially not at this time.

But he supposed circumstances conspired to make it so, and it was made that way.

It was almost ironic, thinking about it in that way. But what was an old man like him to do about it?

Certainly, he never expected two people to have been able to cause so much change in such short time, but then again, he should have learned something from the Maidens and from Salem by now.

Brothers know his mistakes after all.

"Professor Ozpin." Ozpin turned and saw Arthur Arc and Bianca Schnee walk out of the elevator to his office. "We have finished the preparations." Arthur said with a nod.

"Good." Ozpin smiled, "Would the two of you like some coffee?"

Arthur looked to Bianca for a moment and she just smiled at him.

Arthur turned back to Ozpin and nodded, "One black and the other one cream with two sugars."

Ozpin nodded and got to pouring them a cup each.

As he was readying their cups his scroll rang and he looked to see an incoming call from Qrow.

He just looked at the holographic screen and blinked, making the screen flash green for a moment.

"I've found the Dust." Came the voice of Qrow through the screen. "Seems Arthur's fourth guess was right."

"3-B… rather odd place to put it in. You sure it ain't rigged?" Arthur asked, looking towards the screen.

"Pretty damn sure—wait. I'll get back to you on that." Qrow replied, and the call ended.

Ozpin finished preparing their coffee and placed them down on the table, facing towards them.

Arthur and Bianca both nodded in thanks, grabbing their cups.

A call came through again and Ozpin pressed the screen to answer this time.

"I suppose Arthur was right, Qrow?" Ozpin said, smile coming onto his face.

"… Yeah. Just when I started to call the grunts went out of the building." Qrow muttered, "Was able to make it out of the explosion in time though. You sure this call's encrypted?"

"I believe you should ask Ironwood that and not me, Qrow." Ozpin replied,

"It is. They just probably had sensors everywhere in that building." Arthur shrugged, taking a sip of his coffee. "Guess Cinder's base in Vale isn't around there then…"

"It could still be there." Bianca argued, "They might have not moved yet."

"What the hell is her plan anyways?" Qrow asked, "Far as I can see, they just wasted a whole ton of Dust to try and kill me."

"Her plan? It's to see the world burn. Starting with Vale." Arthur scoffed, "I don't even know what goes into their heads sometimes. I doubt Ozpin would know what the hell Salem wants either."

Ozpin sighed, "Arthur is right. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you can just assume that her motivations are non-existent."

"She wants power, that's basically it." Bianca shrugged, sipping her own cup of coffee. "It seems Salem's the easiest way to get there, and she's dedicated to that already at this point."

"It's honestly unfortunate we don't have much control on what happens on Mistral, but Ironwood did what he could. Let's just hope that comes to light soon enough." Arthur muttered, looking down at his cup.

"Are you really sure that acting now would be best?" Qrow asked after a moment's pause.

Ozpin looked at Arthur and their eyes met. He frowned at what he saw but didn't comment. "I believe it would be best. Much as the information would help us later on, it'd be much better to prevent it happening now rather than trying to stop it later."

"Okay then." Qrow grunted, "So how did the Amber thing go over? Was he able to heal her?"

"No." Arthur answered, "I don't know why, but it didn't work on her. It was almost as if she had too little Aura left for me to amplify. I did the best I could but…"

"You cannot take back what isn't there, after all." Ozpin said, frowning. "Unfortunate, but I suppose we cannot do anything about it at this point. Our best hope is by taking back what she had lost to Cinder, but even that is a risky move in and of itself."

Silence overcame the room after he had spoken, and he sighed. Walking back to looking down at the incoming bullhead that held all the incoming Beacon Initiates.

"Well, that's all I wanted to talk about. I'll call you later when I'm done." Qrow said, before the call was ended.

Ozpin watched as the students went out of the Bullhead, he heard footsteps behind him and saw Arthur and Bianca standing to his sides, just a step behind him.

A small smile appeared on his face as he sipped his coffee.

Usually, he'd only share this view with Glynda or Qrow, but they were usually busy for most of the time. But it seemed that Arthur and Bianca, the personas that the Jaune Arc and Weiss Schnee of another world took up, were able to find time in their busy day to stand by his side like right now.

Ozpin's face turned to a frown, however, as he saw an explosion occur in the middle of the courtyard.

"Hah. Not even Blake or Jaune could stop the explosion from happening." Arthur chuckled, "Wonder how Jaune and Weiss are going to meet."

"Probably not as well as we could hope." Bianca muttered.

"Or a lot more than we'd expect. Seriously, what in the world are you even planning, Bianca?"

"The better question would be what are  _you_  planning with Blake and Ruby in the mix?"

Ozpin sighed and shook his head, tuning out their bickering voices as he decided to watch the interaction happening below.

It would seem that he'd have a rather eventful four years this time.

He wondered if he could survive the month.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: Probably tomorrow or later.


	15. First Impressions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, if you're interested in seeing early releases for the chapters, then you can go here: 'discord .gg/zhn7zr7' Just remove the space.
> 
> Beta(s): Amphion, DeathDrayanD

"Remember how we first met, Jaune?"

"What? When you insulted me, or when I insulted you? Because I can remember both of them as clear as day."

* * *

Jaune sighed as he used his hand to clear the smoke in front of him.

Sometimes he wondered how he kept getting into these situations, all he knew, at least from what Arthur said, is that Huntsmen and Huntresses are just generally unlucky. Some more than others.

"Ruby, seriously, how did you even cause an explosion like that?" He scratched his head, before he went down to pick Ruby up from the ground. "You need to be more careful…" He muttered, dusting her off and fixing her hair.

Ruby blushed, she wasn't used to this. Well, no, that was wrong, Yang did this to her a lot, but to get the same treatment from Jaune—someone she had just met a day ago, and a boy—was rather embarrassing.

"Ruby." She focused again as she heard her name being called, noticing how Jaune's firm hands were on her shoulders and how he was looking straight at her eyes with worry on his face. Her face warmed up again, squeaking as he leaned closer towards her face. She started to close her eyes, and was about to part her lips before she heard what he said next. "Are you okay?"

Her eyes shot wide open and she nodded rapidly. "Y-y-yes! I-I'm fine! Totally fine! Yep! Never better, Jaune!" She gave an awkward grin as she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart, w-was his face this close a while ago?!

Jaune just raised a brow before shrugging and letting go of her, giving her space to breathe, not knowing of the dilemma he'd just placed her in.

Glancing around, he saw two girls staring at him, one with red hair, and the other with white hair by the edge of his vision.

Wait—white hair? Isn't that—

"Weiss Schnee/Jaune Arc?" Both Jaune and Weiss spoke at the same time before they blinked.

Jaune smiled and Weiss frowned, but they both nodded nonetheless.

"I, uh, it's good to meet you! I… I've heard a lot about you from both Arthur and Bianca, I heard you were able to tie against some girl named Pyrrha Nikos? Yeah, that's pretty good and, uh…" Jaune gulped as he looked at Weiss' intense gaze. He fell silent at her stare, feeling sweat roll down the back of his neck.

Why was she staring at him so intently?

Jaune stiffened as she narrowed her eyes at him, her gaze penetrating to his very core.

"Uh… Hello—" Ruby's attempt at breaking the tension between them was immediately rebuffed as Weiss finally spoke.

"You… look a lot like Arthur." Was all Weiss said.

Jaune blinked, as did Ruby, and he gave a sad smile at her. "Yeah. I do." He breathed out, chuckling slightly.

Ruby just stared at the two of them confused, before she noticed the red haired girl beside Weiss.

Ruby pointed at her as she recognized her face. "You're Pyrrha Nikos! Oh my gosh! You were on the Pumpkin Pete Cereal box, you're so cool!"

Pyrrha raised a brow at Ruby before smiling, waving at her. "Hello!" She said with a chuckle. "Much as I enjoyed that photoshoot, the cereal itself isn't too healthy…"

This knocked Jaune and Weiss from their tense gazes at one another and made them look at Pyrrha and Ruby respectively.

"Wait, you're the girl from the cereal? Huh, the more you know." Jaune muttered, before his eyes widened and he slapped his head. "Oh! I'm an idiot, I forgot to introduce myself to you guys." He chuckled, a smile forming on his face while he pulled Ruby to his side, making her squeak momentarily.

Ruby blushed at the close contact, stiffening with Jaune's arm around her shoulders. Didn't they just meet the other day? What was he doing? What would she say to Yang? What would Yang—Oh no! What would Yang do to Jaune?!

As Ruby started to panic again, Jaune introduced the both of them to Pyrrha and Weiss. "My name's Jaune, Jaune Arc, just like Weiss said and my friend over here—" He pointed to Ruby with a grin, "Is Ruby Rose. I met her yesterday when I was doing some odd jobs with my friend, Blake who… isn't here right now." He chuckled, scratching the back of his head, "So yeah, it's nice to meet you, Pyrrha, Weiss."

Pyrrha was about to speak, when Weiss interrupted her with a sigh.

"I suppose this is pointless, but yes, I am Weiss Schnee and she's Pyrrha Nikos. Though, when you speak of 'odd jobs', you couldn't mean the attempted Dust robbery yesterday involving Roman Torchwick against three Hunters in training, do you?" Weiss asked with a raised brow.

Jaune let go of Ruby and shrugged. "Yeah, we… well, we did our best, but in the end, I guess it just didn't work out."

"That's still quite a feat to pull off with just three Hunters. Ones in training nonetheless." Weiss nodded, looking at Ruby, "Perhaps that's why you're here…" She muttered, narrowing her eyes at Ruby whose eyes widened as she moved to hide behind Jaune. Weiss just sighed and shook her head. "Good for you, I suppose." She then looked at Pyrrha, who smiled and nodded, arranging the cases of Dust, floating them back to Weiss' trolley one by one.

Jaune blinked at that, fascinated by Pyrrha's Semblance, before he looked up as Weiss spoke again.

"Very well, I believe it would be best if we move onto the Auditorium now, don't you think?"

"Yeah." Jaune nodded, and they all went to the Auditorium.

* * *

Jaune looked to the side and raised his shield in the nick of time, blocking an attack from Weiss' rapier.

So she struck first. That was good, he was never too good at being the first attacker after all.

He heard a whistle coming to his right and he rolled left, dodging another attack from Weiss. He looked around the arena and saw a number of Glyphs spread around, frowning as he realized what this meant for him.

She had control over the battlefield, all he could do was play along with it.

She could go anywhere she wants to go and she'd be there in a flash, and Jaune couldn't even do much about it.

Well, it wasn't as if he hadn't been against opponents faster than him, after all.

Jaune's eyes flicked to their Aura bars at the top, he was still relatively full compared to Weiss who was already around 80% due to all the Glyphs she's placed down on the battlefield.

Good enough for him.

He glowed blue for a moment, and suddenly everything around him felt slower. He looked at his Aura bar again and saw that it went down by a tenth of his bar.

15 seconds.

He'd have to make it count.

Weiss rushed at him again and he stood there, staring at her coming right towards him. Moments before she hit him, he moved right and delivered a slash towards her side.

She managed to block it with a Glyph in time, her eyes widening at his sudden burst of speed.

When she got to the other side, however, she narrowed her eyes and stared at Jaune.

She saw how his eyes were glowing blue.

She'd never seen that before.

Jaune suddenly ran towards her, moving at a rather quick pace, and she frowned.

She rushed to a glyph opposite of him, aiming to slash at his unprotected side, raising Myrtenaster towards his arm.

He blocked it with his sword, locking their blades.

They narrowed their eyes at each other, and Jaune managed to overpower her—

Only for Weiss to jump in the air and attack his back with three strikes, gritting her teeth as she met nothing but solid metal.

His armor.

She had to attack more precisely.

But that meant she'd be slower than him.

Weiss pulled herself backwards with a glyph as Jaune spun in a wide sweeping circle with his blade at the front, dodging his attack in time.

She frowned as he moved to rush at her again. She didn't want to have to use this now, she was actually hoping to use it much, much later on in the fight when she really needed it.

But she needed to control the battlefield.

And this flat land would just not do.

Weiss spun the canister on her rapier and took a breath, raising the blade for a moment.

She plunged Myrtenaster on the ground, through her Glyph, and activated the Dust.

Jaune paused as he saw ice start to spread around the ground rapidly.

He just blinked and suddenly his foot was encased in ice.

His eyes widened and he tried to move out of the ice, but it wouldn't budge, no matter how much force he applied to it.

Gritting his teeth as he used his shield to try and crack the ice below him, but it was too thick, encasing his entire foot up to his heel, he was barely able to create a dent.

He was about to plunge his sword down to the ice but then he heard something whistling behind him and he ducked as much as he could, making her blade pass by just by his hair.

Just great.

He stood straight again, pushing against the ice, and looked around for where Weiss was.

She was a few feet in front of him, and had a smile on her face.

She said nothing as she dashed towards him again.

Jaune's eyes flicked up to the Aura bars again and he cursed.

75%

He'd have to really make this count.

He saw the tip of Weiss' blade get closer and closer to him and grit his teeth.

Then he glowed pink.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter: April 25


	16. An Expected Outcome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: By the way, if you're interested in seeing early releases for the chapters, then you can go here: 'discord .gg/zhn7zr7' Just remove the space.
> 
> Beta(s): Amphion, DeathDrayanD, Deo V

Arthur blinked as Jaune started to glow pink.

That was… odd. He looked to his right and saw Bianca who watched the fight with a smirk on her face.

Suspicious, sure, but then again, she usually had some odd plans up her sleeve. He'd have to see where this lead to he supposed.

He knew that she'd tell him if he'd ever ask, but he felt that it would be better for her to have her fun for now.

After all, there were much darker things at work at the moment.

Arthur watched as Jaune deflected Myrtenaster with his shield moments before it made contact with his skin, throwing Weiss off course and giving him time to destroy the ice that encased his foot. He bent down as soon as he could and broke off the ice with the pointed tip of his shield.

Arthur had to give it to Jaune, though, as wasteful as he was with his Aura right now, seeing as he was at 50% left, he certainly knew how to make use of the limited moment of power as efficiently as possible. It made Arthur curious enough just what kind of training Bianca and Jaune did in secret that made him learn about all these things already.

He almost found it funny, really, how Bianca and he affected the opposite people with the most impact. Sure, Jaune looked up to him, and Weiss looked up to her, but the ones who made the most impact in their training, and the ones who trained them, would generally be her with Jaune and him with Weiss.

As Jaune cracked the ice that had encased his foot, Weiss was onto him again, but this time he was able to move, and that changed things. Significantly.

Jaune jumped backwards onto the icy floor and slid backwards to avoid Weiss' attack. Arthur knew that Jaune was at a disadvantage, however, as Weiss could maneuver within the icy floor much better than him.

Which prompted him to raise his brow as he saw Jaune drop his shield on the floor and stepped on it to glide across the ice. "Huh. Shield surfing. I'd have thought you'd have tried to teach him ice skating." He said, looking at Bianca who just shrugged beside him.

"It's not like it would be too useful considering what he's wearing." Bianca said, and he hummed.

"Still quite clever though, here I thought you were just using the training time as an excuse to spend more time with him." Arthur smiled, laughing as she elbowed him.

"Jerk…" She muttered as Jaune and Weiss slid through the arena, clashing blades every now and then. "I didn't even say anything about you spending more time with Weiss than me…"

"Well of course, you were there to see our training after all. Not my fault you'd be jealous over yourself." He chuckled. "All that aside, any reports on Roman Torchwick?"

"No. Not even much White Fang activity either." She replied, "Publicly, that is."

"In actuality?"

"There's something we need to investigate in Forever Fall." Bianca said, making Arthur turn to face her with narrowed eyes, "Laqueum is there."

"This early?" Arthur asked with a frown, glancing at the fight for a moment to see if anyone was low on Aura.

Jaune was at 30% as was Weiss. The fight was going to end soon.

"Yes. Though I'm not sure why Merlot would be acting so quickly right now." Bianca pulled up her scroll and showed Arthur a picture of a ship in Forever Fall.

"Wait." He narrowed his eyes as he saw something odd within the picture, "What're the White Fang doing there?"

"I'm not sure either." She replied, "We don't know if he'd worked with the White Fang before. But knowing that the White Fang have connections to someone like him is rather…"

"Troubling." Arthur muttered, before looking up again at the fight just as both Jaune and Weiss entered the 20% mark of their Aura levels. "We'll look into it later." He said, giving back the scroll to Bianca. "For now, we just have to make sure that Initiation goes as smoothly as possible."

Arthur walked forward as Jaune stood in an ice prison, watching as he broke the spikes with Crocea Mors, and surfed out of the prison just as spikes appeared out from the floor he'd just been standing on. Weiss gritted her teeth as she watched him surf towards her. Knowing that her current position would be disadvantageous, she quickly stood up, pulled Myrtenaster out, and dashed forward towards Jaune.

Arthur just sighed. The winner was obvious already, neither of them even knew it.

He hated standard tournament rules.

As he stepped onto the ice, a small crack appeared. It took very little time for the crack to expand before the whole ice floor shattered into dust.

Jaune reached 15%.

"The winner is Weiss Schnee!" Arthur announced just as both Jaune and Weiss stumbled, falling on top of each other with the lack of the ice floor they were just sliding on.

Jaune grunted as his back landed on his shield, "Ow…" He moaned as he rubbed his head which had made contact against the floor.

He was glad that he still had Aura, honestly, because he wasn't sure if he could have managed the pain for more than just a second.

He felt something heavy on his chest. His eyes snapped open.

He almost wished they hadn't when he saw just what was on top of him.

Or, well, who was on top of him.

It was Weiss, and she was staring down at his face as she supported herself with Myrtenaster just to the side of his—

His eyes widened, and he looked to his right, seeing her blade embedded on the floor far closer to his head than he'd like. He looked back up at Weiss, before looking back at her blade again, before looking back up at her.

"U-Uh…" Jaune gulped, "W-Weiss…?" He said nervously, too scared to move, and she blinked, seemingly out of her trance.

For a moment, she just stared at him confusedly, before she looked at the blade next to his head and her eyes widened, quickly taking it out of the ground.

Jaune closed his eyes shut, gulping loudly. He then felt the weight on his chest disappear and he opened his eyes to see Weiss bowing beside him.

"I'm sorry!" Weiss apologized, and Jaune just sighed in relief before getting up and sheathing Crocea Mors off the ground.

She was still bowing her head.

Feeling awkward, he scratched the back of his head. "Uh… I forgive you?" He said, before reaching a hand out to her shoulder as she continued to look down at the ground.

He stopped halfway though, unsure of what to do.

Until they both flinched as they felt a hand on their shoulders.

"You kids are far too dramatic." Jaune heard the voice of Arthur and his eyes widened, before facing him as pulled his hand away from their shoulders.

"A-Arthur!" He and Weiss said in unison. He ignored that, however and continued to speak. "I'm sorry! I… I lost." He muttered, looking down at the ground.

He promised Arthur that he'd win this battle too. And… and an Arc was never supposed to go back on his word.

Yet he'd just done it.

He didn't deserve—

"It's alright."

What? Jaune blinked and looked up at Arthur, looking confused even as tears started to fall down his face. "You would have probably won anyways, had we not used standard tournament rules." Arthur put a hand on his shoulder, smiling. "Come on, Jaune. One broken promise can't kill you."

"B-But…"

"An Arc never goes back on his word? Yeah that's true, but you didn't go back on your word." Arthur chuckled, "You didn't swear it to your name anyways."

Jaune just stared at him, surprised. He was right, but that didn't mean…

Jaune shook his head. No, now was not the time to think of that. Wiping the tears off his face and smiling at Arthur, he asked, "Did I do good?"

Arthur chuckled and ruffled his hair, "Did you? You did a lot better than what would be expected of you at this stage. I'd almost be led to believe that you did much better than you did in the entrance exams."

Jaune just laughed, liking the feeling of Arthur ruffling his hair. He'd never really got to feel that kind of thing from his sisters, and somehow, earning Arthur's approval made him feel a lot better. "Well, it wouldn't have been like this without the help of Bianca, honestly."

"Wow, just her?" Arthur raised a brow, and Jaune's eyes widened before he shook his head rapidly.

"N-No! I meant that she helped me a lot, but you just—you helped me out the most! You're my brother and I can't just—"

Arthur laughed, making Jaune shut his mouth before looking down at the ground. "Come on Jaune, I was just kidding."

"I-I…"

"Hey." Arthur put a hand on his shoulder again, and Jaune looked up at him. "You know I'm proud of you right?"

Jaune found himself smiling at that. "Yeah…"

"So don't even think for a moment that you're not doing a damn good job compared to a lot of other first year students already. Because you are. Got that?" Arthur said, pushing a finger down Jaune's chest plate.

Jaune smiled, nodding at Arthur, before he hugged him. "Thank you…" He muttered as he closed his eyes against Arthur's chest. "I honestly don't know if I'd even be here without you, Arthur."

"Trust me Jaune, fate would find a way." Arthur chuckled, patting his back. "Now come on, we have to compliment Weiss' performance as well."

Jaune let go and nodded, smiling at Arthur, then he looked back to where Weiss was and saw her hugging Bianca, smiling as she did.

It was an odd coincidence that both he and Weiss seemed to just find their long lost siblings they never knew even existed out of nowhere, but he supposed that it led to a lot of good things.

Honestly, he was just glad that he's in Beacon now, and from the looks of it, Weiss seemed to be as well.

As Bianca and Weiss broke their hug, both he and Arthur walked towards them, before they could speak however, a small beep rung out from Arthur and Bianca's Scrolls.

Jaune looked as they shared a look before they smiled apologetically at them. He tilted his head, and Arthur shrugged.

"Duty calls. That's all the time we have for now." Arthur smiled, before waving at them.

"Good luck you two!" Bianca grinned before they both walked out of the Training Rooms.

"See you guys later!" Jaune called out, before looking back at Weiss with a smile.

She raised a brow at him. "What?"

Jaune shrugged, "Want to get dinner or something?"

Weiss hummed before nodding. "Of course. Let's go." She then walked out of the arena.

Jaune smiled before following her out.

They were about to go out of the Training Rooms before they heard someone call out to them.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Jaune and Weiss turned around and saw Ruby along with Pyrrha. Jaune smiled and nodded, waving for them to come over.

He looked towards Weiss, and saw a small smile on her face.

Well, if there was one large difference between Bianca and Weiss it was this. Weiss didn't smile much, but for some reason, when she did, she just looked so beautiful.

And—No.

Jaune shook his head, before looking back at Ruby and Pyrrha who were now with them.

He nodded at them and turned around then they started to walk towards the cafeteria.

If there was one thing he was surprised about as he got to Beacon it was just this:

He had more friends than he could have possibly expected.

And it certainly felt weird.


	17. Pair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: If you're interested in seeing early releases for the chapters, then you can go here: 'discord .gg/zhn7zr7' Just remove the space.  
> Oh, and... yeah, I'm back.
> 
> Beta(s): Amphion

Jaune shivered as a cold wind passed by him, looking up at the shattered moon just lowering down the horizon.

He didn't really know why he was awake right now. He didn't need to be, but he was awake at 4AM anyways.

His eyes glanced over the statue in front of Beacon before landing on the form of one white haired beauty he'd just met yesterday.

Weiss Schnee.

That made him to pause, hesitating as he wondered what he should do, but he wasn't given much of a choice when her eyes met his and a brief smile appeared on her face as she patted the seat beside her.

Jaune gave an awkward smile before he walked towards her and sat down on the bench, sitting next to her. He leaned forward on his seat, hands on the bench, not knowing what to do.

He looked down at the ground and looked at his sneakers, and he started to wonder just how in the world it even survived with all the stuff he'd put up against it, not only with his training with Arthur, but also with the recent spar he'd had against Weiss. He found it interesting, he knew that these shoes were new and were a replacement for the old one he'd used before, but he didn't think that it would be Huntsman-grade like this.

Then again, he did say that he didn't want to get pulled down by wearing a large amount of armor when he goes to Beacon or train with Arthur, so he supposed that was why his dad bought him some new clothes.

Still though, to think that stuff like this existed…

He shook his head, what was he doing, shouldn't he be talking to Weiss or something? He looked to his side and opened his mouth to say something but paused when he saw Weiss doing the same thing, and he closed his mouth, gesturing for her to speak.

Weiss chuckled before nodding. "I'm surprised you're awake this early in the morning."

Jaune smiled, chuckling as well, "Yeah I'm surprised too. I don't even know why I'm awake right now. It's just… I dunno. I think Arthur and Bianca's training got me used to that. It's weird. I always seem to wake up just before morning comes."

Weiss nodded, "I feel much of the same." she then looked to the statue in front of them, causing him to stare at it as well. There was a short pause before Weiss continued speaking, almost long enough that he felt the need to say something, but she continued before he could speak. "I suppose since you've also been trained under Arthur and Bianca you'd have adapted the same things I had to."

Jaune shrugged, "I wouldn't really say so, I've heard that the Grimm up in Atlas are far more vicious than the ones here in Vale."

"That may be true, but the Grimm in Vale are more difficult to take out due to their numbers." Weiss retorted.

"I guess so…" He conceded, humming to himself, "Still, you beat me so you've clearly. learned more from them than I did."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "Don't sell yourself short, like Arthur said, I'd have lost had we been using Atlas standard rules."

Jaune turned to her at that, "Oh yeah, I didn't get that part, Atlas has different rules for tournaments?"

Weiss looked at him and nodded, "Yes, instead of 15% Aura is left, it's until one of the fighters are either injured, incapacitated, or bleeding. Whoever stands mostly unaffected is victorious."

"Wow, that sounds pretty brutal." Jaune grimaced, "But I think I can see why it's that way."

Weiss nodded again, "Many say it's why Atlas generally has better soldiers than others, I personally believe it's all due to the equipment and training that they're given, many of which, Beacon does not lack."

They both turned as they saw the Sun start to rise up to the sky, Jaune smiling as it did. It wasn't something he saw all the time, after all.

They then turned to the docks as they heard a Bullhead start to land and they saw both Arthur and Bianca come out of it.

Both of them stood up and greeted them, before Jaune raised a brow and asked, "Wait, where did you guys come from? I thought the teachers here had their own dorms."

"They do." Bianca replied with a nod, "We just came back from a mission."

"Ah…"

"But the two of you haven't slept yet?" Weiss asked with a frown. "Isn't that…"

Arthur rolled his eyes, "We'll be fine. We've gone through weeks without sleep before, this isn't anything new. You kids have to remember that Aura can do more than just the physical. Especially mine and Jaune's semblance." he said, smiling at Jaune. "You've been practicing with it right?"

Jaune shrugged awkwardly, "Haven't really found anyone to help me out with that…" he trailed off, looking to the side for a moment, "But yeah, I've done what I could."

"That's good." Arthur smiled, before turning to Weiss, "And you?"

"I've done what I could. There are a few things I could use someone else's help with however." Weiss said with a nod, before looking at Jaune, "Perhaps…"

"Hmm, yeah. Perhaps the two of you could help each other with that." Arthur said, putting a hand to his chin before nodding to himself. "That settles it then, the two of you better make sure that you end up as partners in Initiation."

Bianca turned to Arthur with a raised brow while Jaune and Weiss blinked.

Then they both spoke at the same time, "What?"

* * *

Blake looked up to see Jaune walk into the cafeteria with Weiss in tow making her blink and narrow her eyes, it was odd, seeing how close the two had gotten to each other just a day after they met, at least she could understand how she and Jaune quickly became friends, but with Weiss, she found it rather… suspicious. But then she remembered that he'd been with one of Schnee's cousins for a while now, however it still felt rather odd to her.

Regardless, she didn't really care too much since it wasn't really her business, it still worried her though, what she could do to Jaune… At least nobody knows that she's a faunus yet.

Nobody but Arthur and Bianca.

The thought made her grimace, but it didn't seem like either of the two younger cousins know of it yet, so she supposed she was safe.

Sort of.

She just sighed and shook her head. Her situation right now was complicated as it is, it even made her wonder why her parents accepted Arthur's words so easily, but she couldn't really do much about it now.

At least she wasn't in prison.

"Hey Blake." she looked up to see Jaune with a rather hearty breakfast filled with eggs, ham and toasted bread. That made her blink and she raised a brow at him as she looked up. He shrugged, "Eh, Arthur and Bianca said I should have a strict diet of protein and all that. Said that a breakfast like this would always be preferable."

She stared at him blankly, "Really."

"I'm not complaining." He said, shrugging again, before sitting down across her, "So, you got any plans for Initiation?" He asked as he started to munch on his food.

Blake frowned at that, "Nothing much in mind other than getting a decent partner. Though I feel like most my options are gone with you being partnered up already."

"Yeah that's true—wait, how did you know about that?"

Blake shrugged, "It was a guess, but with how close the two of you seem at this point, it wouldn't be surprising."

Jaune blinked at that before gaining a thoughtful look, "Huh… you're right. Though it's not like we're that close. Not even sure if we're friends to be honest…" he trailed off, looking down at his food for a moment before shaking his head and proceeding to eat it.

Blake frowned, before deciding to just finish her breakfast. Hearing that from Jaune was interesting with how close he and Weiss acted as opposed to Weiss and Pyrrha who have seen each other before entering Beacon as opposed to Jaune having just met her yesterday.

She shook that thought away, it wasn't like she was going to get any answers on that soon. It was unfortunate that she wouldn't get to be partnered with Jaune, him being but she supposed it wasn't going to be too bad. She just hoped to partner up with someone who could at least hold their own ground.

They both finished their breakfasts and as they put their utensils back, she saw Jaune look around for a moment before frowning, then he looked to her and smiled.

"Guess we should head to the lockers then." she nodded at him and they walked out of the cafeteria to the locker rooms, he then continued their conversation, "So how about Yang? Seems like she'd be a pretty good partner for you in my opinion—or Ruby but I'm not sure the two of you get along all that well."

Blake rolled her eyes, "Just because we don't talk much doesn't mean we don't get along."

"Yeah? So what do you guys get along with then?" he asked, glancing at her.

"Books, I suppose, though she's more into fantasy and fairy tales. That's as much as the two of us have talked. She's… quite proud of her weapon though."

"Yeah she is." Jaune nodded with a smile. "Would be nice if we were in a team though… you know Pyrrha right?"

"Who doesn't?"

"Well, I think she'd be a pretty good partner honestly. If I had anything to say I'd have wanted to become partners with her, she has a similar fighting style as I do after all…"

"No, she's much more precise as opposed to your brute strength."

"Hey!" Jaune pouted at her for a moment as they walked into the lockers, "I'll have you know that I can be quick and precise if I need to."

"Your spar against Weiss says otherwise." Blake said, smirking as he raised a finger to retort against that before deflating.

"… Yeah. You're right." after a moment, he shrugs waving at Yang, Ruby and apparently Pyrrha as he and Blake approached them. "Though I think I'll be learning more of that soon enough."

Blake nodded at that, before giving a nod to the trio who greeted them.

"Hey Ruby, Yang." Jaune said, greeting the girls with a smile, "You guys seem early."

"Well, not as early as Ice Princess over there." Yang said, pointing towards Weiss who was alone on one of the benches, her weapon disassembled as she mixed the contents of multiple Dust vials together. Jaune frowned, before looking to his locker near where Weiss was.

"I tried to help her but she said she wanted to do it alone." Pyrrha said, frowning, "And… I guess I decided to leave her be."

Jaune shrugged at Pyrrha before nodding. "Eh, I'll see if I can help her out." he said, smiling.

Blake and the others just watched as he walked towards where Weiss was, placing a hand on her shoulder. She then glanced at him, blinking for a moment then nodding as he proceeded to assist her in her work.

Blake sighed and shook her head, before looking at the others. "I'll have to take my leave then, unless any of you have plans of becoming partners with me."

Yang raised a brow at her, "You're not even surprised?"

"Having been around the Arcs? I don't even know how I would be surprised anymore." Blake replied, before looking at Ruby and Pyrrha who were already talking with one another. "Good luck to you then." She waved at Yang before walking away.

"W-Wait! Do you have a partner yet?" Yang said, stopping Blake for a moment.

Then Blake smiled. "No, I suppose I'll just have to let the chips fall where they may."


	18. Initiation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: If you're interested in seeing early releases for the chapters or wish to help beta my stories, then you can go here: 'discord .gg/zhn7zr7' Just remove the space.
> 
> Beta(s): Amphion

Jaune watched as a student got launched into the Emerald Forest. This was it, he supposed. The real test.

It got closer and closer to his turn, and he looked to his left, to see Weiss face him. "Don't forget the plan." she said, twirling her weapon as a glyph beneath her made her glow green.

"I won't." he nodded, then she got launched into the air, a loud sonic boom occurring as she headed towards the Emerald Forest with her speed. He crouched down and got ready, glancing at Arthur who nodded at him with a small smile, he faced the forest in front of him and waited for the signal.

He glowed pink in anticipation for the launch.

He then heard it, the whirring sounds of the launchpad. Checking that he was in the right position, he smiled.

Then he heard the click.

He waited for a moment, before kicking off the launchpad which was rapidly pushing him upwards, and flew into the air, grinning as he heard the sonic boom.

As he flew in the air, he looked around for any signs of Weiss, taking a few seconds before locking onto the rapidly moving trail of green, angling himself towards it. As he felt himself go down, he reached his hand out towards the trail of green, knowing it was Weiss.

As he saw himself get closer and closer to the tree-line, Weiss grabbed his hand, both of them landing on one of her glyphs, slowing them down as they stopped just above the trees.

Jaune looked to his left and made eye contact with Weiss. He chuckled, smiling. "Guess we're partners then."

"That we are." Weiss nodded with a smile, before looking ahead of her and letting go of his hand. "I believe we should find the relics there." she said, pointing towards a ruined temple. "Do you see it?"

Jaune blinked, eyes glowing green momentarily, and he nodded. "Chess pieces. About as good a guess we can get for the relics, honestly."

"Then we're heading there." Weiss nodded, about to jump off the glyph they were standing on before Jaune grabbed her arm, making her look at him with a raised brow. "What is it?"

"I think we should be more careful." Jaune said, looking around with a frown, letting go of her arm when he saw that she wouldn't jump into the forest just yet.

She frowned at him, but considered his words, looking around them as well. "Considering our training, I doubt this would be anything of a hindrance to us."

He glanced at her with narrowed eyes for a moment before he chose to ignore her words. "The Emerald Forest—or at least this part of it—isn't just filled with a large amount of common Grimm, it's also filled with a number of rarer, older Grimm." he said, crouching down on the glyph, before looking towards Weiss again. "At least, that's what Arthur and I had found out in our time spent training here."

Her eyes met his and, after a moment of thought, she nodded. "Then it would be best if we stay in the air."

"Nevermore." Jaune's eyes were glowing green as he spoke those words, making her look towards the direction of his gaze. "No, a Giant Nevermore." he furrowed his brows at that, unsheathing Crocea Mors from his hip and placing his shield at their front.

Weiss crouched down behind his shield just as a barrage of gigantic feathers made its way towards them, large thunks could be heard as it made contact against the shield, but Jaune held firm.

Suddenly they both heard a loud whistle—prompting them to jump up as high as they could, just as the glyph they were on shattered as the Giant Nevermore flew through where they'd just been.

Weiss managed to catch herself in the air with her Semblance, looking to aid Jaune but frowning as she saw that he was nowhere to be found—until she looked at the back of the Giant Nevermore where she saw Jaune holding onto his blade tightly, the blade which was embedded in the Nevermore's back.

The Giant Nevermore screeched, trying to shake Jaune off of its back, but he held onto his blade tighter, embedding it into the Nevermore's back even deeper.

Weiss narrowed her eyes at it, before rotating the Dust canister of her blade, applying a sheen of ice Dust in the blink of an eye.

She dashed towards the Nevermore.

Landing upon its back beside Jaune, she plunged Myrtenaster deep into its back, causing it to flail through the air even more recklessly.

It screeched once more, the tip of her weapon sliding as deep as it could.

Then she activated the Dust.

The Nevermore screeched again, both of them holding onto its back tightly as it started to fall down towards the ground, the Nevermore's cries decreasing in intensity as ice flowed across Myrtenaster, large amounts of Dust freezing it inside out.

"Jaune!" Weiss called out as she saw him struggle to hold his blade, "Jump!"

Jaune took one glance towards where the Nevermore was headed towards before nodding at Weiss, trying to yank his sword before deciding to just jump without it. He felt himself fall down towards the ground for a moment before suddenly landing in a crouch.

When he looked down, he didn't see Weiss' usual glyphs, but instead saw actual dirt. As he looked back up he saw the Giant Nevermore crash into the forest, destroying a number of trees as it did. He frowned as he thought about his blade, but decided that he would just wait for the Nevermore to dissipate.

Jaune looked beside him and saw Weiss' blade glow red and she started to walk towards the now unconscious Giant Nevermore to finish it off.

Before she could do that, however, two figures suddenly came out from the trees and cut off the Giant Nevermore's head as they converged upon it.

Jaune blinked, before suddenly he saw who the two figures were—one of which, he could recognize.

Smiling, he walked towards them as they picked up his blade.

"Looks like you forgot your blade again."

Jaune rolled his eyes at that, "Nice to see you too, Blake." he said, accepting the blade which she held out to him. He then looked to the other person who helped Blake lately and raised his brow at Blake, "Oh yeah, who's your partner over here?"

Blake just glanced to her partner and they shrugged.

"I'm Lie Ren, but I suppose you can just call me Ren." Ren said, introducing himself

Jaune nodded, "Right, so I'm Jaune Arc, and this is my partner—"

"Weiss Schnee." Weiss said, finishing for him, she glanced at both Blake and Ren before nodding. "Thank you for your assistance."

Jaune smiled and nodded at that, before he saw something in the now-dissipating Giant Nevermore and narrowed his eyes. "Wait… what's that?"

They all turned to the direction of Jaune's gaze and saw a silver—or perhaps platinum—medallion.

Weiss frowned and walked towards it, picking it up and inspecting it, narrowing her eyes further as she saw a number of markings upon its back. "This isn't just a medallion." she mumbled, pulling out her scroll with her free hand after she sheathed her blade. She then placed it above the yellow diamond shape of the scroll and the scroll suddenly opened. Weiss removed it from there and saw a video of Ozpin in a dark office.

"What's that?" Jaune asked from behind her and she just shook her head, before playing the video.

"Congratulations, Initiates, you have accomplished a great task and have acquired the Platinum Medallion." Ozpin said in the recording, a picture of the medallion appearing in the side. "You have unlocked a new trial for Initiation, and now you no longer need to acquire the relics—the ones in the Ruins—to form a team. The four of you who have worked together to bring down this Giant Nevermore are now a team." Blake found herself frowning at that, but she didn't say anything. "If you so wished it, you may go back to Beacon now and reap the rewards of this platinum medallion."

The four of them glanced at each other momentarily, unsure of what to do.

"However," Ozpin continued, "If you wish for more—and wish to prevent more powerful creatures of Grimm from growing—then you can choose to continue down this quest and attain even greater rewards and benefits for your time in Beacon."

"I wonder what the rewards are…" Jaune mumbled to himself, but was surprised when Ozpin seemed to smile and answer him.

"Well, the rewards include—but are not limited to—a large amount of free time for your needs, meaning exemption from a number of subjects, access to a large number of supplies, access to outside Grade-E up to Grade-S missions of your choosing, full-time access and maintenance for your team's personal training Arenas, to name a few." Ozpin then took a sip of his coffee, "So, will the four of you accept?"

The video ended and a pop up appeared giving them two choices. Accept, and decline.

Weiss looked at her team, raising a brow at them. "Well?"

The three of them just shuffled awkwardly, Jaune narrowing his eyes in thought.

Weiss sighed, this is going to take a while.

* * *

"And so it begins…" Arthur muttered as he watched Weiss pick up a platinum medallion from the corpse of the Giant Nevermore, just in time for Pyrrha to pick up a gold medallion from the corpse of the Giant Deathstalker. He, along with Glynda, Ozpin and Bianca, watched it on their scrolls, with him ignoring the other teams for the most part, seeing as they haven't acquired either of the medallions. "Although it is worrying, considering the type of Grimm they'll be going up against." he said, looking up to Ozpin who was currently sipping his coffee as a number of initiates made their way up the cliff, having acquired the relics already.

Ozpin just hummed at him, making Arthur look towards Bianca whose gaze was fixed onto the Emerald Forest, a frown on her face.

"Considering the strengths of both teams, I doubt there is much you need to worry about, Arthur." Glynda said, making him raise a brow at her.

"Sure, but with the type of Grimm that exist in the deeper parts of the Emerald Forest…" Arthur trailed off with a frown.

"Yes, that is understandable, Mr. Arc. Though there isn't much we can do about it. Should they be in serious danger, however…" Ozpin started, glancing at Arthur with a raised brow, who grimaced and nodded.

"We should be there as soon as possible should anything happen." Bianca said, before turning to face Arthur with a smile. "Have faith in them, Arthur."

He sighed before nodding, "I suppose I can try that." he mumbled to himself before they all looked to where Cardin and his team came up to the cliff. "Looks like we have the first Initiates done. Congratulations, students." Arthur said, smiling at them.

Now if only he could say the same for the others…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh yeah, sorry this took a while. Mostly forgot about this site tbh, so yeah. This is the latest chapter right now, but we'll see about getting a schedule back up and running again.


	19. Deep Into The Forest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: If you're interested in seeing early releases for the chapters or wish to help beta my stories, then you can go here: 'discord .gg/zhn7zr7' Just remove the space.
> 
> Beta(s): Amphion

 

Jaune looked at the thick vines in front of him and frowned, unsheathing his blade and cutting through it. He looked around momentarily. checking for any unwanted arachnids crawling around, but saw nothing.

Taking that as a sign to continue, he looked behind him where his team were waiting, looking around cautiously. He nodded at them and gestured them to come forward to follow him.

He lead the way for most of the trip, seeing as he had the most experience in the Emerald Forest compared to the rest of his team. Right behind him was Weiss, then Ren, and then Blake at the back to watch their flank.

"Keep on the lookout for any small or big spiders, Grimm or not, they're usually poisonous, so it'd be best to stay alert as we move through this area." Jaune said as he continued to carve a path for them to go through while slaying any spiders he could find, there were a few other bugs here and there, but those were easily taken care of as well. "Try not to disturb any hives as well, 'cause, uh, it'd be better if we don't have to destroy the forest just because of them."

They continued, walking through the forest at a slow, cautious pace, slowly getting darker and darker. This was one of the thicker parts of the forest, but at least Jaune was able to reassure his team that this won't be the case for the whole way through, this was just one of the quicker—not to mention safer—paths towards the Grimm's resting grounds. It did make Jaune wonder though, why they'd allow initiates like them—they weren't even students yet—to go into the deeper parts of the Emerald Forest where generally only B-Rank Huntsmen and higher were allowed.

It didn't really matter now though, seeing as they've accepted to push through with it. He just hoped that the rewards would be worth it.

Jaune cut down a few more vines and branches, before narrowing his eyes at how dark the forest area they were in was.

This wasn't right.

He gestured for his team to stop, glancing at them for a moment to see their nods, then he looked around, enhancing his senses with his Semblance.

Everything looked… clear. Although…

He looked up narrowing his eyes at the pure black foliage that seemed to cover them. He could hear…

Nothing.

He looked around quickly, no—this couldn't be…

Then, he smelled it.

The blood.

The dried blood and sick smell of human flesh decaying by—

"Run! It's an Anansi!" Jaune shouted as he ran back towards them, just in time for the ground to start shaking. He cursed, glancing above him momentarily, seeing the green of the forest intermingling with the black and red which comprised of its body.

He looked in front of him again and saw most of his team a fair distance away from him, prompting him to activate his Semblance, glowing blue as he sped up to catch up to them. He could see Weiss look back at him for a moment before her eyes widened at what was above them, she looked at him with worry, seeing as he was the furthest, but he just gestured for them to continue running. "I'll catch up to you! Go!" he shouted, having to grit his teeth as he pushed his abilities again, just barely catching up to them.

He could hear the clear sound of acid hitting the ground behind him, of how it quickly decomposed the plant life that it touched.

The ground shook more and more, and he knew what would happen next, he had been close by when Arthur had fought against one of these before, and it wasn't a pleasant experience. Not at all.

As he caught up to his team, he heard Weiss shout at him, "What do we do?!"

"Get out from under it as soon as possible!" Jaune replied, glancing at her momentarily, "We don't want to get crushed!"

He heard Blake curse about something as she ran in front of him, but he couldn't hear it.

They ran for a few more minutes, suddenly it got brighter and they saw sunlight shine down upon them. It didn't matter much to them right now, seeing as the Anansi was still throwing acid upon them. They needed to find a clearing where they could move around freely, and fast.

Then the acid stopped raining down upon them, making Jaune slow down until he stopped. He frowned, looking back to where the Anansi was and narrowed his eyes. The rest of his team noticed this and stopped as well, looking to him.

"Jaune?" he heard Weiss ask, making him turn around as he grabbed onto a tree.

"Grab onto a tree and don't let go." he said to them and they nodded after a moment, grabbing onto the closest tree they could find.

Then the ground shook.

Hard.

The wind also buffeted against them, nearly throwing him off the ground but he managed to keep himself standing as he planted down his foot onto the ground. This went on for a few minutes as the Anansi repeatedly crashed against the ground, and when it ended he looked at his team again and nodded, prompting them all to run again.

The ground just shook, and when Jaune glanced back, he could see the Anansi following them as it spit more acid towards them. He cursed, but he couldn't really do much about it, seeing as he already knew what would happen once it's annoyed enough, all he could do now was prepare against it. Prepare and hope to everything that it works.

Jaune sighed and took a deep breath, before jumping and running ahead of his team as he pulled out his sword. He glowed pink and swung his blade, cutting down a few trees along the way, creating a large path for them.

The clearing was still a few ways away, so he might as well just create one.

"Cut down the trees here or let the acid decay it! We need a clearing and this might as well be as good as any!" Jaune shouted, glancing at the rest of them for a moment to see them nod.

Then he got to work.

* * *

Ruby frowned as she felt the ground shake. She looked at her team, which had herself, her partner, Pyrrha, her sister, Yang, and finally, her sister's odd partner, Nora. She was a little sad, considering that she wasn't in a team with Jaune or Blake, but ah well, at least she was partners with Pyrrha, which was pretty good already, if she were to be honest. Oh, and having her sister was just an added bonus too.

She saw her teammates blink at her, before suddenly their eyes widened and Yang suddenly shouted, "It's an Anansi!" making her turn around to see what she meant.

Her eyes went wide as she stepped back, "I-It's real?!"

"I didn't know either! I thought it was just a myth!" Yang replied, but that didn't ease Ruby much.

It was… so big, even from afar, she could just imagine how big it must have been up close… Then she saw a flash of white in the distance—wait no that was… pink.

"Jaune…?" She muttered to herself before her eyes widened as a large white arc made its way across the area she'd just seen the pink light in the distance. "Jaune!"

It was Pyrrha's turn to be surprised when she saw a large ice blade cut through a large part of the forest where she'd also spotted the pink light. "Weiss!"

Then, it was Nora who was surprised when she saw a large green explosion go out in the distance, "Ren!"

Yang just looked at Nora, confused, "Who?"

"Ren! My bestie! He's there running from that Anansi thing or whatever!" Nora answered, waving her arms towards where they could see those things from happening.

Ruby then saw a dark purple energy blade cutting through the forest in the distance, "Oh my gosh, Blake's there too!"

"What?!" Yang looked over to the dense forest in the distance and her eyes widened, "They're a whole team?!"

"Ah! We should go help them! Quick!" as Ruby spoke those words, she dashed off down the hill and towards the dense forest, Yang reached out to stop Ruby but was too late and cursed, so she turned to Pyrrha and Nora.

"Well?!" Yang asked, and they both nodded, with Nora grinning at her.

"Let's go!" Nora cheered, running off with Pyrrha and Yang towards Ruby.

As the four of them ran towards the large spider Grimm, they couldn't help but feel a foreboding sense of helplessness.

Not like they can turn back now.

* * *

Jaune gave one final swing and finally finished creating the clearing that they needed, panting as he finished, only remembering to dodge an acid spit when Weiss pulled him out of the way. He gasped, before sighing in relief, giving her a brief smile, "Thanks." she smiled back with a nod, before her face turned neutral again.

"You have a plan?" Weiss asked, making him frown.

"Yes, but I'm not sure if it'll work well." Jaune said as Blake and Ren regrouped with them. He looked at the two of them before glancing to some of the trees that were still standing. "You guys think you're fast enough to dodge some spikes going at a fairly fast speed?"

Blake looked at him and glanced at Ren for a moment, before looking back again. "How fast?"

In that moment, Jaune saw the Anansi stop just a few hundred meters away from them, its white red spiky legs at the front poised towards them. He raised his shield and looked to Weiss, who nodded and formed an Ice Barrier in front of them. Then they heard a sharp sound, like that of a bolt being shot out of a crossbow.

And then a number of large spikes shot out towards them. Jaune turned towards Blake and Ren to demonstrate how fast the spikes were, but there was one problem.

Ren wasn't there.

Jaune blinked, "Where's—"

"Ren!" at the unfamiliar voice, he turned around and his eyes widened, seeing a girl with orange hair and pink skirt running towards them.

Suddenly Ren appeared beside her, pushing her out of the way—out of the way of the rapidly moving spikes.

Jaune tried to go towards him—towards Ren to save him.

But he wasn't fast enough.

He wasn't fast enough to prevent Ren from getting impaled through his stomach.

"Ren!"


	20. Crunch Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're interested in seeing early releases for the chapters or wish to help beta my stories, then you can go here: 'discord .gg/zhn7zr7' Just remove the space.
> 
> Beta(s): Amphion

"Ren!"

Jaune grit his teeth as he rushed towards Ren, most of the spikes having passed by already.

This wasn't supposed to happen, he wasn't expecting anyone else but now… Now he had to fix things.

Arriving by Ren's side, he inspected the wound and the damage to it, frowning as he saw it punctured through his stomach. The spike looked like a dark silver spear, one which, from what he could see in the back, was tipped with poison. He could hear someone walking towards him so he looked back, seeing that it was Weiss.

She looked at him and he grimaced, "You got any more Ice Dust?" he asked, and she nodded. "Good, I need you to create a temporary cast to plug the blood and his stomach acids from going away."

"What about the poison?" Weiss asked, crouching down beside him, glancing at Nora who was trying to comfort Ren while crying, she didn't look at them for long.

"My Semblance should take care of it. I just need to make sure that there's at least a cast around the hole so I don't have to spend too much Aura." Jaune said, taking hold of the spike and looking at Ren's face who was half awake at this point. He then looked at Nora, "Uh… I'm going to try to help Ren here, you think you can help me take this spike out?" At that moment, Blake arrived beside him and supported Ren. He glanced at her before standing up.

Nora glanced at Blake before looking up at him, tears still in her eyes, then she nodded. "Y-Yes. I can help." she replied, gulping before taking hold of the spike.

Jaune glanced at Weiss, making sure she was ready with the Dust, she nodded, then he looked at Nora and nodded, both of them pulling the spike. He tried to ignore the slick sound of it going out, but he couldn't do so when Ren also made a sick gurgling sound, one that reminded him that Ren was still very much alive.

Just barely.

Weiss swiftly applied the ice dust around Ren's stomach and back, serving as a temporary cast. Jaune and Nora threw the spike away and he immediately crouched down again and asked Blake to lay him down on the ground.

She nodded, and he took a deep breath, glowing a soft white.

When Ren was lying down on the ground, Jaune laid his hands above his stomach, then pushed his Aura, amplifying Ren's with his own, both of them glowing.

After a few seconds, the blood stopped coming out of Ren's mouth, and he was able to look at Jaune, as he was about to say something, however, he was interrupted, "Don't talk now, Ren, I need to heal you till you're back to normal again, give me a few minutes." said Jaune, so he nodded, closing his eyes. "Try not to do anything stupid like that again, okay?" he nodded again, this time with a smile.

Nora watched the process as Ren got healed and looked down to the ground, tears falling. "I'm sorry… If I didn't—"

"It's okay." Jaune said, smiling up at her. "We all make mistakes. Just… try not to do it again next time, I suppose." the ground shook again, making him look up towards the Anansi, and saw that it was moving towards them again, his eyes widened as he saw what was coming towards them however—"Weiss!"

"On it!" Weiss replied, waving her blade as she used wind Dust to push the acid away from them and onto some of the other trees around them instead.

Jaune looked to the side and saw Ruby and Pyrrha firing off shots towards the Anansi, he frowned at that, but did not comment on it, instead looking at Yang who was comforting Nora beside her with a hug.

He glanced at Blake who was beside him and she was looking down at Ren's form. As he was about to say something, Blake spoke, "I noticed it before."

Jaune blinked, "What?"

"The smell of dried blood and decaying flesh. It was all around the dark part of the forest. I didn't think it to be anything but now…"

Jaune frowned at that, and, after a moment, shook his head. "Don't regret about things you can't change, Blake." at those words, she looked up at him, surprised. He just continued, "The past can't be altered. At least, as far as I know it can't. But there is something we can change, and that's now." he smiled at Blake, chuckling for a moment, "That's what Arthur told me. Keep moving forward, he said, even in the worst of times."

Blake stared at him for a moment, not sure what to say, before she nodded. "Of course. You're right." she sighed and stood up, looking up at the Anansi. "What do we do about the Anansi?"

"We distract it for now, there's going to be a cluster of Arachnae later so you have to be careful, that, and maybe even a few creeps." Jaune said, looking over to the Anansi's back, knowing that there were a large number of eggs up there. He saw it start to crouch down, this time a lot slower and in an angled manner, dropping a number of the large eggs towards them, hatching it at the same time. He narrowed his eyes at it before he spoke, "It's starting."

* * *

Arthur frowned as he watched the live feed of the students fighting against the Anansi. "This is not looking good."

"Have faith in them, I think I see Jaune with a plan, look at him talking with Weiss." Bianca said, smiling as she watched the two interact.

Arthur watched it and frowned, shaking his head, "We should head there just in case. As much as I want to believe in our cousins and the others being able to handle the Grimm, I doubt they'll be able to handle the aftermath."

Bianca frowned and stared at him for a moment, before sighing. "Fine. I don't want any of them to die either. And it doesn't seem like Ozpin is too opposed to us intervening."

Arthur scoffed, "He left us here for a reason, Bianca. You know how he works." at that, she just glanced at him and hummed.

"You are right, I suppose." she mumbled and he rolled his eyes.

"Let's just go." Arthur said, jumping from the cliff and towards the Anansi, Bianca caught up beside him and placed down glyphs for them to jump up on.

Bianca frowned as she gave him a glance, "You okay?"

"Yes." he said, jumping from one glyph to the other.

"The truth." she said with a sigh, dashing along with him.

"No." he confessed, "I'm not exactly comfortable with what Ozpin had planned out, even if it would be beneficial for them."

For a few seconds she didn't reply, then suddenly, "I feel the same."

"Hm?"

"Academic bloat or not, much of those history lessons still taught me a lot of things as to what we should and shouldn't do. Not only in the similar problems that we'd inevitably face, but also in the problems that are new and unfamiliar." she explained, before pausing for a moment, "Though I would much rather have it be given to me in a different manner as to how Oobleck does it."

"Well, they did mention something about Mentorship, so I suppose we'll have to look into that as well." Arthur said, shrugging for a moment before jumping again,

"… So you're saying we'll be their mentors?"

"Most likely, yes." he nodded,

Bianca sighed, "I'll prepare the plan."

"And that's why we're partners."

* * *

Ruby narrowed her eyes at the oncoming spider Grimm coming towards her, before grinning as she slashed at a number of them in the front before spinning to cut through all the Grimm around her. She frowned, however, when she saw that there were only more Arachnae oncoming, and she didn't even have much ammo left to go against them. "Guys! There's way too many of them!" she shouted out, just as she dodged a number of poison-tipped spikes coming towards her. "Incoming spikes!"

"I'm low on Dust!" Weiss shouted, cursing as she saw her pouch. "I need you guys to distract the Anansi!"

"On it!" Blake replied, moving along with Nora to get close to the Anansi and distract it. They took caution not getting too close though, considering the spikes and the amount of spider Grimm around them, they seemed to be able to manage though, Blake using a number of her shadow clones to avoid the swarm by jumping on top of them and Nora just smashing through them with the help of her hammer, along with Ruby who was also fighting alongside her.

"Off with their heads!" Nora cackled, swinging her hammer to get the ones in front of her out of the way then transforming it into a grenade launcher to shoot at the Anansi's red eyes, aggravating it slightly.

"Don't get too close! It can throw explosive eggs at you!" Jaune shouted from the back and Nora narrowed her eyes, watching as a bunch of large yellow looking eggs went towards them. She just grinned and jumped up, swinging her hammer to throw back the eggs.

"Watch out for the spikes, Nora!" Ruby shouted across her, still swinging her scythe to push back the large cluster of Arachnae coming towards them, "It's been five minutes so it's about to use its spikes again!"

"How do you know that?!" Weiss asked, stabbing an Arachne in the head before moving to stab through three of them running straight towards her.

"Look! My dad used to tell me all about this!" Ruby replied, cutting down five Arachnae before dashing briefly to Pyrrha to attack one that was behind her and going back to where Nora was. "I don't think I can last any longer guys!"

At those words, Jaune frowned and looked down to Ren, "Hey, Ren, you feeling okay now?"

Ren groaned but nodded, sitting up and opening his eyes. He stared at Jaune for a moment before smiling, "Yes, thank you."

"Yeah, you're welcome, but uh… we kind of have a problem…" Jaune trailed off, looking to where most of everyone was fighting. He glanced at Ren and checked the hole in his stomach, seeing it had fully healed now. "Okay good." he nodded to himself, before standing up with Ren. "You remember the plan right?"

"Yes."

"Good, now go tell the others." Jaune said, letting Ren go to Nora and the others before he glanced down to his Scroll and took note of how much Aura he had left. Sixty-seven percent. Good enough.

"Jaune." he blinked suddenly as Weiss walked towards him, panting slightly. "I don't think we can last much longer."

He nodded, "That's okay, I'm done healing Ren now, we just need to wait for everyone to group up." he said as he placed his hand over Weiss' shoulder, healing her with his Semblance. "You feel okay now?"

She shivered for a moment before standing straight, nodding at him. "Yes." then she looked down to her pouch and frowned. "Like I said lately, however, I have hardly any Dust left, how will we make our escape?"

"You should still have some Ice Dust left." Jaune pointed out, and she nodded.

"Yes, but—"

"Just use that to give ourselves some cover as we all escape. Far as I know it's going to be a real messy death." he said, shivering as he remembered Arthur's fight against an Anansi, at that moment, the others finally gathered up beside them and they all looked at him. He just smiled. "So, everyone's here?" he asked as he started glowing a bright blue hue.

"Yes." Ruby replied, frowning for a moment. "I know I can run fast but I don't think I—" suddenly her eyes widened as she felt the blue Aura come around her. What she felt was… surreal. She knew that she was fast. Of course she did, she was Ruby Rose! But at the same time… she felt faster. Faster than she had ever been before.

Faster than when Jaune used his Semblance on her last time.

"Whoa… I don't feel tired anymore." Yang mumbled, blinking to herself, along with a few others, Jaune, in the middle of them all, just smiled, his blue glow surrounding everyone for a moment before disappearing, making everyone glow blue.

"Jaune…?"

"Speed buff. Weiss, start the bomb, Ruby, and, uh, everyone else?" he said, looking at them with an awkward smile. "Get ready to run faster than you've ever ran before."

Weiss pulled out a small octagon shaped metallic case, one which she had been fiddling around with along with Myrtenaster back before Initiation, and she input a small combination of buttons on the bomb and gave it to Ruby.

As Ruby held the bomb, she grinned, nodding at Jaune.

She's never been more excited to run in her life.

"Okay. Guys. Ready…" they all faced away from the Anansi, all except for Ruby. The Anansi was still going for them, but with Jaune's speed buff, it looked a whole lot slower. And it was already crawling slowly. "Get set…" Ruby grinned, holding the octagonal bomb close to her chest. "Go!"

Then she ran, and before she knew it, she jumped, the large creepy looking mouth of the Anansi getting bigger and bigger, but she wasn't scared. She just grinned.

"Eat this!"

But she miscalculated. She jumped a split second too late.

Her eyes widened at how close she was to it, fumbling just enough to miss throwing the bomb towards its mouth. Instead, it collided with the top of its mouth and fell to the ground.

As for herself…

She screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at the chapter title.


	21. Failure and Reward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're interested in seeing early releases for the chapters or wish to help beta my stories, then you can go here: 'discord .gg/zhn7zr7' Just remove the space.
> 
> Beta(s): Amphion, Indrick

Jaune paused as he felt a connection with his Aura suddenly drop.

He frowned and turned back, eyes widening as he saw it—the speck of black and red falling from the Anansi's maw. Everyone around him paused too, feeling a distinct sense of disconnection from someone.

And they saw Ruby.

"Ruby!" he didn't know who shouted it, nor who started first—but he knew one thing, he ran towards her. Ran faster than he had ever done before, pushing the limits of his own ability. He knew that it was dangerous, and that he would lose a lot of Aura in the process, but he didn't care.

His plan failed.

And now, because of that, Ruby paid for it.

"Fuck!" he screamed, tears in his eyes, he gritted his teeth even as he felt his Aura struggle to keep up with him, but he pushed through. Pushed through until he could get to Ruby and help her. So that he could make up for the sins that he's done. "Ruby!" he screamed again, looking up to where she was. She was going down to the ground fast—faster than he could reach her—but no, he can't fail again.

Not here.

Not now.

He skidded to a stop as he arrived just beneath where Ruby was and spread out his arms, looking up as he prepared to catch her. She fell onto his arms, and he crouched down to cushion the fall, causing cracks on the ground. Then he opened his eyes, heaving a sigh of relief when he saw that, yes, she was still in one piece.

Ruby had her eyes shut, until she slowly opened them, tears forming as she saw Jaune's face. He just smiled, waiting for her to calm down.

"Hey, Ruby." he smiled, and her tears finally streamed down her face as she hugged him and leaned into his shoulder, sobbing all the way.

"Jaune!" Ruby's cries were muffled as she continued sobbing on his shoulder, arms around his neck. "I-I'm so—"

"Sorry." Jaune sighed, looking up and running back towards where the others where. "I didn't plan for that."

Ruby didn't say anything in the duration of the short trip, continuing to silently sob in his arms.

When he arrived back to where the others were, he sighed and placed Ruby down on her feet, surprised when she didn't let go of him. "R-Ruby…"

"I don't feel my legs…" she mumbled, Jaune barely catching it, making him carry her again.

But he didn't have the chance to do so when suddenly he felt Ruby get taken away from him, he panicked for a moment before he looked up and realized it was Yang who was glaring at him.

Were her eyes always red?

"You!" Yang growled, "You nearly got my sister killed!"

Jaune frowned, slumping down as he hung his head, "Yes, and I—"

"You—!" Yang struggled to move as she was held back by Nora from punching him, while Ruby clung to her tightly. "Let me go!"

"That will do nothing to improve our situation." Weiss said as she crossed her arms, Jaune glancing up at her for a moment, before nodding.

"Yeah… We should—"

"That is why, I would suggest that we retreat now as soon as we can, there's still a bomb out there, and it's not exactly a weak one." Weiss said, glancing at Jaune for a moment with a frown. "It would be best if you use your abilities now while you can. We need to escape after all."

Jaune gulped, closing his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath, then he reapplied the buffs for them all. He then looked at Weiss and said nothing, not trusting himself to say anything at this point.

Then they ran.

* * *

"Jaune Arc, Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, and Lie Ren." as their names were spoken by Ozpin, the four of them went up the stage. When they were on it, he continued, "The four of you have achieved something that many others would not be able to do alone, and that had been shown all throughout your performance in Initiation. Furthermore, the four of you persevered, survived, and have learnt from it." at that, the audience clapped. Something Jaune thought must have been more for show than anything genuine. "And you have acquired the Platinum Medallion, a symbol of Dominance and Power above a great many things. The four of you will go far." Ozpin smiled then, "Jaune Arc, you are now the leader of a great team. Team Abyssal."

Jaune's eyes widened at that, and he looked up the large screen to see the letters of their names appear. A, B, S, and L.

He looked at Ozpin with confusion.

Him?

Why would he be leader? Didn't he see just how they…

He was about to say something, but held his tongue when he saw Arthur walk up the stage.

It seemed the ceremony for them was still not finished.

"And in addition to the rewards which will be given to you based on your medallion, there shall be a mentor that will guide you in your time here at Beacon. For you, team Abyssal, you will have Arthur Arc as the said mentor for your team. However, all Beacon Staff may assist you as well, but your main mentor shall be Professor Arc. I hope they will aid you well in your journeys from now and until the end of your time here in Beacon." Ozpin said, as Arthur nodded and looked at his team.

"Welcome, Team ABSL, to Beacon. Like Ozpin said, I will be your mentor in your stay here, and in that time, I intend to make sure that all four of you will not only become a team that would surpass others by leagues and bounds, I plan to also make you a versatile team, able to work in any situation that would be thrown at you. I hope that you are all ready for that challenge." Arthur said and for a moment there was silence, as everyone awaited for their answer.

Jaune frowned, looking at his team, Weiss and the others looked back at him, all of them with nods, making him turn to face Arthur. "Yes, we're ready for any challenge." he said with a nod.

At that, Arthur smiled. "Good, now follow me." he said as he walked down the stage, Ozpin nodding at them to follow.

They did, walking down the stage as well and following Arthur's lead.

When they were out of the Auditorium, Jaune took a deep breath and was about to speak, when suddenly Arthur interrupted him, "The questions can come later, Jaune. For now, I have to orient you all to your schedule. Wait until then."

Jaune grimaced, before nodding, continuing to look at Arthur's back as they walked.

They passed by the hallways and the doors to the different lecture rooms of Beacon. Many people looked at them oddly, particularly Jaune, which was probably because of Arthur.

He ignored them, staring straight into Arthur's back, and suddenly they stopped by one of the doors inside the dorms. He looked at the number, 993, guess that was theirs.

Arthur swiped his scroll over the door and then it opened.

When they all went into the dorm—it didn't look like anything fancy so he didn't really care—they all sat down on their beds, with Arthur standing by the door as he crossed his arms.

He then looked to Jaune. "So, you had a question?"

Jaune just sighed and stood up, nodding. "Yes. I do."

"What is it?" Arthur asked, frowning.

"May I decline the role of team leader?" Jaune asked, looking straight into Arthur's eyes.

Straight into those darkened cobalt eyes of his.

* * *

_"I don't know if you, or I hated you more back in Beacon."_

_"To be fair, Weiss, both of those would probably be right."_

_"How would that make sense?"_

_"The Brothers will find a way."_


	22. Leadership

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta(s): Amphion, Indrick

_"If there's one thing I learned about leadership, it's that it is never something meant to be passed on or given so easily. Makes me wonder what Ozpin saw in me though."_

-  **Jaune Arc**

* * *

Arthur frowned at Jaune's words, taking a moment before he nodded. "Very well then. Weiss, would you be willing to accept the leadership role for your team?"

Weiss blinked, before looking to Jaune and the rest of her team with narrowed eyes. "Yes, unless anyone has anything to say against it."

At that, everyone fell silent. Blake frowned, looking to Jaune, who returned the look with a shake of his head.

She just sighed and shook her head, "I have nothing against it." she muttered, looking to Arthur who nodded and looked at Ren.

Ren just shook his head, making Arthur nod again.

"Then that's settled. Your team name won't change though Weiss Schnee will be the leader for now. If anyone has any issues with the leadership for the team, then please talk to me or to the Headmaster and we will settle it. In the event of a disagreement, however, Jaune Arc will be reassigned the leadership role, is that clear?" Arthur said, looking at team ABSL, who just nodded at him. "Good. Now we can proceed to the main point of this meeting—which is the schedule that your team has."

At that moment, the four of them received messages on their scrolls. They pulled their scrolls out and opened the message, finding an attachment which showed their schedules. Weiss nodded in appreciation, finding the detailed and orderly schedule useful.

"As you can see in your schedules, the only time you'll ever be with other first year students would be in the Combat Classes held by Professor Goodwitch. Most of your time will be occupied with training either as a team, partners or solo. Most of the time, however—at least for the first few months of training—we're going to focus on partners and solo training." Arthur said, looking through his scroll as the four of them went through the schedules, seeing the different schedules for their training.

Ren found himself frowning at the way the schedules were lined up however. "I don't seem to see much of any room for breaks in between training."

Arthur nodded at him and smiled, "That's mostly because Jaune will use his Semblance on the four of you in between sessions. It'll be a way to train his Semblance along with yours."

"What about mental fatigue?" Blake asked, worried about her mind suddenly shutting down.

Arthur just smiled, however, and looked to Jaune to explain it, who eventually did. "Well… the thing about the Semblance that Arthur and I have, is that it allows people's Aura to function beyond it's intended purpose. In that case, along with the extended amount of Aura that anyone affected by our Semblances get, they also get relieved of any mental or physical fatigue."

Arthur nodded, "Don't worry, you will still get your good night's rest for today and on weekends. Though if you really do wish to push yourself, just tell me."

"Wait, but the night time doesn't seem to have any scheduled events for it. Are those for us to choose?" Weiss asked, noting the lack of anything in those time slots.

"Yes. Do be reminded that you will still have written examinations for all the subjects that you're not a part of. So if I were you, I'd use that time to read up on some history, plant life, and research on Grimm. Trust me, it's much better that you learn to research by yourself than to have to learn it all slowly along with a whole lot of other students." Arthur said, shrugging momentarily.

Jaune grimaced, but nodded nonetheless. Weiss looked at the rest of her team and nodded to herself.

Arthur then stood up and closed his scroll, pocketing it again. "Alright. That's all for today. Jaune and Weiss, the two of you should come to the training arena's later, you know where to go. At seventeen hundred hours, make sure you have your necessary equipment." Jaune and Weiss nodded at that. "You're dismissed."

At that, all of ABSL stood up, moving to unpack their things as Arthur went out of their room.

When he got out, of their room, he let out a breath and saw that Bianca had just got out of team RPYN's room as well.

He smiled at her and she smiled as well. "How did it go?" he asked as they walked back to their own dorm room.

Bianca shrugged, "Surprisingly well. They're not as rowdy as I thought they would be."

"Told you Nora's not that bad without Ren." Arthur said, smiling, making her roll her eyes.

"Sure. How about you?"

"As expected. Jaune resigned from the leadership role almost immediately, so I gave it to Weiss."

"Blake didn't say anything about it?"

"She seemed to understand Jaune's concerns so there's that. Best thing we can hope for now is that the White Fang drama happens after ABSL gets their shit together."

"Which means more work for us… yay…" Bianca mumbled, sighing and shaking her head as she opened the door to their room.

Arthur just shrugged as he walked into their room along with her. He frowned at how clean and unused it looks and sighed. "We don't even use this room all that much, what's the point?"

"Obviously for when we want to have—"

"Not in the mood for that right now, sorry." Arthur muttered, yawning as he got onto his bed. "Don't even think about it." he mumbled as he closed his eyes.

Bianca just stared at him and sighed. "Fine. But I'm cuddling with you tonight."

"Sure… just let me sleep for a moment." he mumbled, moving to the side to allow her some room.

"Of course." she muttered, getting into the bed with him not long after.

As she hugged his sleeping form, she couldn't help but wonder about something.

Just how much did they affect the timeline now…?

She hoped it wasn't too much. She didn't want to think of the consequences later on.

So she decided to just sleep it off for now.

They hadn't slept for weeks, after all.

* * *

Jaune looked at Crocea Mors and picked it up, clipping it to his belt.

Looking over himself in his locker's mirror once more, he closed it and turned to the side, stopping abruptly as he found himself face to face with his partner, Weiss Schnee.

She had her arms crossed and brow raised at him, her frown seemed to say it all, however, and he couldn't help but sigh at that.

He looked down to the ground and rubbed his arm awkwardly, "I'm sorry…" he mumbled.

For a few seconds, he didn't hear anything, and he felt his guilt worsen. He deserved it after all. He was an idiot… it wouldn't be surprising if Weiss were to leave him behind—heck, she'd probably find a better partner for herself, but then he had to go and ruin that with him declining his responsibility…

After a few seconds, he heard her sigh and mutter something to herself. It made him slouch.

Why did he go here anyways?

What was the point of him—

"I don't blame you."

What?

For a moment, he couldn't help but hope. He looked up and saw her frown still in place, but this time she just sighed and shook her head.

"You did what you can—and, considering that it was the first time you've lead a team, is it not?" she raised her brow at him, prompting him to grimace, but he nodded nonetheless. "Then it's not your fault."

Jaune looked to the side nervously, taking a small breath before speaking, "W…what if it was my fault?"

"So what?" W-what? He turned to her in surprise, seeing her shrug at him dried his throat, he couldn't look for anything to say against it. "It would be foolish for me to blame you when I could have also said something in that time. So don't blame yourself. It'll be a useless weight on your mind and will only bog you down."

For a few seconds, they were both just standing there, looking at each other. Weiss just looked at him with a frown, her arms crossed beneath her chest.

Eventually, Jaune looked away, guilt on his face. "I'm sorry, then."

"What are you sorry for?"

Jaune sighed again and turned to the side, slumping against his locker. He shook his head and shrugged, looking down to his hands and clenching his fists.

He… he didn't know. He just felt that it was so frustrating.

"Everything, Weiss." he mumbled, closing his eyes. "Just… everything. For being a useless partner… for being an idiot… just… I don't know. I've been a worthless leader back there—I… I was too arrogant, I thought we had already won—I was sure that the plan would have succeeded. That we would have been able to kill the Anansi easily. And I just…"

He didn't know.

He didn't know what else to say after that… it just pained him so much that he was—

"Don't." he grit his teeth at her words, "You should stop thinking about those things and be honest with yourself."

For once, he paused, and he couldn't help but curl his fists tighter.

"How much have you actually achieved thus far? What have you been able to do in Initiation? Tell me Jaune, do you really believe that the fact that you stood up and took the mantle of leading the charge when there wasn't anyone else who did, a failure? You've shown a lot of things in Initiation, Jaune. And being a failure isn't one of them. I'm not saying that you should take back the leadership role now, but I'm just saying that it's ultimately pointless to decline your leadership role when you were the leader and everyone followed you back there."

For a few seconds, there was only silence between the two of them. He knew why Weiss was still here, and why she hadn't left for the Training Arenas yet, but her presence… and what she just said…

"I'm an idiot, aren't I?" Jaune managed to get out, choking out a forced laugh. He then took a deep breath and looked at Weiss in the eye, who was still frowning at him. He smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, for being an idiot."

Weiss just scoffed, rolling her eyes as she pushed a finger against his chest plate. She smirked at him, "Apology accepted. Now, unless you want to keep wallowing in your self-loathing and not actually try to improve, I believe that we should head to the Training Arenas. Isn't that right, Jaune?"

Jaune chuckled with an embarrassed smile, looking to the side. "Heh, guess I might as well try to make myself a useful partner for my dear leader here."

Weiss rolled her eyes again, turning around, "Of course. Though, I believe you're already useful in that aspect."

"Oh, and why's that?" Jaune asked, following her with a raised brow.

She glanced back at him with a small smile. "You're actually learning to improve. That, and you're my training partner, so who else could be a better partner for me but you?"

This time, it was Jaune who rolled his eyes, "Such flattery."

"I'm only speaking the truth, dear leader." Weiss said, chuckling to herself.

It was at that moment, that Jaune knew, he really didn't deserve to have Weiss as his partner.

She was just… too perfect.

Quickly, he shook those thoughts away and walked beside her. "Remind me to tell you how great a partner you are later on, Weiss."

Weiss raised a brow at that but didn't mind it at all, smiling at him instead. "I'll make sure to remind you that, Jaune."

Then they arrived at the training arenas.


End file.
